Magnetic nanoparticles have received extensive attention in the biomedical research, e.g. as prospective contrast agents for T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. The ability of a contrast agent to enhance the relaxation rate of 1 H in its vicinity is quantified by relaxivity. The main aim of this thesis is to evaluate the transversal re- laxivity of ε-Fe2−x Alx O3 nanoparticles coated with amorphous silica or citrate - its dependence on external magnetic field, temperature and thickness of silica coating - by means of nuclear magnetic resonance. The aluminium content x = 0.23(1) was determined from XRF, the material was further characterised by XRPD, Möss- bauer spectroscopy, DLS, TEM and magnetic measurements. The size of magnetic cores was ∼ 21 nm, the thickness of silica coating ∼ 6,10,17 and 21 nm. Magne- tization of the ε-Fe2−x Alx O3 nanoparticles increased by ∼ 30 % when compared to ε-Fe2O3. The saturating dependence of relaxivity on external magnetic field and on the linear decrease with increase of thickness of silica coating contravene the theo- retical model of motional averaging regime (MAR); nevertheless, the temperature dependence acquired in 0.47 T and 11.75 T may be explained by MAR. In compari- son to ε-Fe2O3 nanoparticles, the relaxivity of examined samples was higher for par-...

Clinical course of multiple sclerosis (MS) is heterogenous and white matter lesion count and volume on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) correlate with clinical course only partially. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more reliable prognostic biomarkers. This work explored three imaging markers - spinal cord (SC) imaging (specifically SC volume measurement and assessment of focal and diffuse SC changes), atlas-based model of "disconnectome" (i.e. disruption of brain connectivity due to white matter lesions) and periventricular white matter gradient assessed with T1 relaxometry. For the SC projects, we assessed MRI from 2044 MS patients with a semi-automatic method for SC volume measurement. We confirmed (i) a relationship between diffuse SC changes, SC volume and disability; (ii) a novel finding was that in patients with EDSS ≤ 4.0, diffuse changes contributed to higher disability more than SC volume; (iii) SC volume explains the paradox in patients with dissociation between brain white matter lesion load and disability; (iv) SC focal and/or diffuse changes are present in 75% patients with early MS, of which 43% have diffuse changes that are related to brainstem lesions. In the disconnectome project, we evaluated the disruption of connectivity caused by white mater lesions in 745 patients...

The thesis is focused on the synthesis and characterization of novel Mn2+ complexes as alternative to Gd3+ chelates which are wide-spread contrast agents in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). In the perspective to find suitable chelators of Mn2+ , three groups of pentadentate ligands with different size of macrocylic cavity, different donor atoms and number of pendant arms containing various functional groups have been investigated. Coordination numbers of 6 or 7 were found in the crystal structure of the Mn2+ complexes enabling binding of one or two water molecules in the first coordination sphere. The direct water coordination causes a decrease in the complex stability and thus, the thermodynamic stability of investigated chelates is lower than that of polyaminocarboxylate complexes and their dissociation is very fast in comparison to [Mn(nota)] and [Mn(dota)]2- . The studied Mn2+ complexes do not undergo oxidation in air except for complexes with 12-membered ligands which are oxidized to Mn3+ species. The proton relaxivities of the bishydrated complexes are two times higher than those for monohydrated complexes and are comparable to those of commercial contrast agents based on Gd3+ complexes. Variable-temperature 17 O NMR data revealed that the water exchange varies from slow to intermediate or...

1 Abstract Diamond is a unique material for its physical and chemical stability. However, many advance applications rely on surface functionalisation. Here, two types of diamond were modified on the surface - thin layer of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and nanodiamond particles (NDs) high pressure and high temperature (HPHT). The aim of CVD surface modification was to prepare photosensitised, conductive, diamond electrodes for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC). For this purpose, a thin diamond layer doped with boron was deposited on the silicon wafer. Boron doping provided p-type (semi)conductivity to diamonds. The surface of the diamond was hydrogenated with H-plasma, and a short carbon linker with a protected amino group was UV-photografted to the surface. In another study, a photoconverting dye (P1) was covalently attached to the amine-linker. Furthermore, a dye designed based on donor-π-acceptor (D-π-A) concepts was attached to the surface. Finally, a systematic study was done for differently conductive diamond layer and the underlying silicon wafer These experiments gradually lead to the highest ever reported photocurrents of 6.6 µA cm2 for a flat photosensitised boron-doped-diamond (BDD) electrode. Monomolecular layer surface functionalizations on CVD diamond are difficult to detect or even quantify...