Recent Progress of Dual-Responsive Fluorescent Probes for Polarity and Analytes

Abstract

Polarity, as an indicator of the cellular microenvironment, regulates cell functions in conjunction with bioactive molecules including proteins, ROS, RNS, RSS, etc. Their synergistic effect is closely linked to the emergence and advancement of atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Accordingly, to monitor the collaborative changes of polarity and the related biomolecules in real time is pretty important to illustrate their biological and pathological roles. Fluorescence imaging revealed substantial benefits and prospects in the identification of micro-environment and analytes in organisms due to its high resolution, non-invasiveness, and real-time monitoring features. In this review, we summarized the research progress of multifunctional fluorescent probes for simultaneous tracking of polarity and analytes in the past five years. Our research centered on the design approaches, spectral properties and biological utilizations of the current multifunctional fluorescent probes for polarity and analytes, and analyzed their limitation and prospect. We anticipate that this review will inspire a panoramic understanding about the relationship between polarity and various biologically active molecules, and promote the further design of new probes for a deeper illustration of the invisible biomechanisms.