In vivo 19F NMR chemical-shift imaging of Ancistrocladus species

Summary ¹⁹F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging and¹⁹F NMR chemical-shift imaging (¹⁹F CSI) have been used to localize fluorinated compounds administered to stems ofAncistrocladus heyneanus andA. abbreviatus for the elucidation of biosynthetic pathways in living plants. This first application of¹⁹F CSI on plants proved CSI to be a valuable technique for mapping fluorinated molecules in plants. Exemplarily using trifluoroacetate as a model compound allowed to select appropriate feeding methods and to optimize both concentration and duration of the application to the plant. The time course of the uptake and distribution of trifluoroacetate was monitored by both¹⁹F imaging and¹⁹F CSI. Fluorinated metabolites formed by uptake of 3-fluoro-3-deoxy-D-glucose were detected with¹⁹F CSI.Abbreviations 3-FDG 3-fluoro-3-deoxy-D-glucose - CSI chemicalshift imaging - NMR nuclear magnetic resonance - SNR signal-to-noise ratio - TFA trifluoroacetate Dedicated to Professor Manfred Christi on the occasion of his 60th birthday