Iron(III) Coordinated Polymeric Nanomaterial: A Next-Generation Theranostic Agent for High-Resolution T-1-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Anticancer Drug Delivery

Theranostic-based nanomedicine plays a crucial role in the field of cancer therapy. This is due to having the capability to combine both therapy and diagnosis together in a single system. Herein a new class of metal-ligand-based nanocarrier in a norbornene backbone has been designed as a theranostic system. Fe3+-terpyridine complex (Fe-Tpy) has been used here as T-1 contrast agent for high-resolution MR imaging, and hydrazone-linked doxorubicin is used for effective pH-responsive delivery. Polyethylene glycol functionalized with a folic acid (peg folate) motif is used to make the entire polymeric system dispersible in water for longer retention and site-specific therapy. All these specialty functional groups are anchored in a single system by using the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) technique under the norbornene backbone. Relaxivity study and 1D image experiments have shown the utility of Fe-Tpy complex as an effective T-1 contrast agent. In vitro studies are performed to confirm the promising potentiality of the nanocarrier as the efficient nanotheranostic system in prostate cancer.