Lessons in Organic Fluorescent Probe Discovery

Abstract

Fluorescent probes have gained profound use in biotechnology, drug discovery, medical diagnostics, molecular and cell biology. The development of methods for the translation of fluorophores into fluorescent probes continues to be a robust field for medicinal chemists and chemical biologists, alike. Access to new experimental designs has enabled molecular diversification and led to the identification of new approaches to probe discovery. This review provides a synopsis of the recent lessons in modern fluorescent probe discovery.

Structural, Photophysical, and Water Sensing Properties of Pyrazolo[1,5‐a]pyrimidine‐Triphenylamine Hybrid Systems

“…Therefore, over the last decades, enormous efforts have been devoted to discovering new organic materials with outstanding emissive properties in solution and solid-phase. [10][11][12] In this regard, N-heterocyclic compounds (NHC) have shown utility due to their remarkable electronic properties and, even more, due to their high synthetic versatility. [13,14] For example, pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine (PP) derivatives are a family of fused N-heterocycles that have been mainly studied for their broad spectrum of biological activities.…”

“…Probes exhibiting solvatofluorochromism could be used in organic electronics and optical switching, where charges are actively involved. Therefore, over the last decades, enormous efforts have been devoted to discovering new organic materials with outstanding emissive properties in solution and solid‐phase [10–12] . In this regard, N ‐heterocyclic compounds (NHC) have shown utility due to their remarkable electronic properties and, even more, due to their high synthetic versatility [13,14] .…”

Common xanthene fluorescent dyes are visible-light activatable CO-releasing molecules

“…One of the main prerequisites for the applications of organic dyes, such as fluorescent tags, 1,2 laser dyes, 3 or pH indicators, 4,5 is their thermal and photochemical stability. Fluorescein ( 1 ), eosin Y ( 2 ), and rose bengal ( 3 , Fig.…”

Using diketopyrrolopyrroles to stabilize double excitation and control internal conversion

“…In most applications, the interplay between radiative and nonradiative rates is critical. For example, in organic light-emitting diodes 1 and fluorescent probes, 2 one wants to maximize luminescence and prevent energy dissipation through secondary processes. On the other hand, efficient internal conversion is crucial when designing materials for photocatalysis 3 (used to initiate chemical reactions), photovoltaics 4 (used to induce charge separation), or photothermics [5][6][7] (used to heat microenvironments).…”