Analyte-responsive fluorescent probes with AIE characteristic based on the change of covalent bond

Abstract

It is important for the determination of biologically and/or environmentally relevant species by utilization of fluorescent probes. Conventional fluorescent probes are subjected to the influence of aggregation-caused quenching that is limiting their application due to low selectivity as well as photobleaching. Additionally, quencher pairs are usually introduced in the design of these probes, which lead to the complex synthetic procedure. A novel class of fluorogens with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristic provide a solution to address the dilemma. By taking advantage of the unique characteristic of AIE fluorogens, specific turn-on probes have been developed via combination with recognition components, exhibiting low background, good selectivity and outstanding photostability. This review focuses on the development of fluorescent probes with AIE characteristics via the bond cleavage as well as formation strategy.