Glyco‐Conjugate Design and Demonstration as Receptors for the Species of Biological, Ecological and Medical Importance: Support from Spectroscopy and Microscopy

Abstract

This review article mainly provides a critical evaluation of the ion and molecular recognition aspects along with the biomedical applications of the conjugates of carbohydrates published in the literature during the past ten years. Thus, the article primarily deals with the derivatives of carbohydrates, wherein these were selective towards the species of biological and ecological relevance as well as their utility in the medical research. The recognition has been monitored by different spectral techniques, such as, fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy and in some cases even visual colour changes. These were further supported by 1H‐Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI MS) and microscopy data. Over the past one decade, there has been a surge in the development and applications of the conjugates of carbohydrates in the field of chemosensors. The accelerated interest is mainly due to their water solubility, biocompatibility and selective and sensitive interactions exhibited by these towards ions and molecules of the type of examples included in this article. Owing to the presence of protein‐carbohydrate interactions, the carbohydrate conjugates have been employed for different biomedical applications such as antimicrobial activity, cell imaging and specific targeting. Therefore, in this article, the sensing and medical applications of the carbohydrate conjugates have also been discussed. For clarity, the main features have been conveniently divided into four sections, sensing of guest species, viz., metal ion, anion or amino acid and bio‐medical applications. While discussing the biomedical applications, such as, the imaging, specific targeting and anti‐disease activity of these conjugates in solution as well when they are attached onto solid surfaces have been covered. Overall, this article deals with the analysis of more than three dozen glyco‐based receptors demonstrated for selective sening of ions and molecular species along with their applications towards disease diagnosis and or prevention. Enough efforts were put to place these on a common platform and to compare these accordingly.

Synthesis and characterization of a rhodamine derivative as a selective switch-on fluorescent sensor for Cu2+ ions in aqueous PBS buffer and living cells

“…[29][30][31][32][33] In the past few decades, a variety of organic molecules such as rhodamine, coumarinbenzopyrylium, benzothiadiazole, anthracene, phenothiazine, and squaraine have been synthesized and are being studied as possible chemosensors that can detect a variety of metal ions. [34][35][36][37][38][39] However, high detection limits, significant interference from other ions and lower wavelengths of excitation and emission when detecting Cu 2+ are only a few of the drawbacks of several fluorescent molecular probes reported in the literature.…”