Benzothiazole based fluorescent probes for the detection of biomolecules, physiological conditions, and ions responsible for diseases

Benzothiazole-based fluorescent probes are formed by decorating benzothiazole fluorophore with a small chemical fragment capable of detecting a particular biological species or physiological condition. Due to a variety of their photophysical mechanism, like, intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), photoinduced electron transfer (PET), and aggregation-induced emission (AIE), these fluorescent probes selectively interact with various analytes and lead to change in their luminescence features that afford the detection of the analyte. These probes showed advantages of large Stokes shift, high quantum yields, and excellent color transitions. Benzothiazole fluorescent probes can be applied to diagnose various diseases or disorders by monitoring essential biomolecules by imaging cells or intracellular organelles. To date, several benzothiazole-based small molecular probes have been reported. The current review is mainly centered on the recent advances made by these fluorescent probes in the last five years.