Supramolecular Chemistry in Biological Imaging In Vivo

Biological imaging techniques, including magnetic resonance, optical, nuclear, and ultrasound, can be valuable tools for noninvasively studying biochemical processes at the molecular level. This branch of imaging is referred to as molecular imaging. A main challenge in the field of in vivo molecular imaging is that existing probes limit clinical applications because of their inadequate sensitivity, specificity, and targeting efficiency. Supramolecular chemistry may provide a viable solution to some of these issues. Supramolecular chemical processes involve molecular components assembled into a single, large entity via noncovalent intermolecular forces. The supramolecular concepts of host–guest interaction and self‐assembly have been widely used in the development of more specialized imaging probes for in vivo imaging. This chapter discusses how supramolecular chemistry has been used to design contrast agents with improved signal amplification and specificity for each of the different imaging modalities. Particular attention is focused on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Multimodal probes that have benefited from supramolecular chemistry are discussed.