Recent progress of molecular fluorescent probes with multi-recognition sites enable sensitive and selective analysis

Reaction-based fluorescent probes can react with the target through one-step reaction induced by the collision between the analytes and the probes, and generally display good performance on sensitivity and selectivity. However, these probes occasionally show poor sensitivity and selectivity in complex system due to interference from competitive substances, and fail to detect substances with low reactivity. Molecular fluorescent probe with multi-recognition sites is a novel designing strategy which solves these problems by offering more binding/reaction sites to highly increase the interaction chance of the probe and the target, thus achieving improved recognition efficiency, resulting in high sensitivity and selectivity. Its advent also effectively helps monitor the ever-changing biomolecules even those at low concentrations. Herein, we discussed the designing paradigm of molecular fluorescent probes with multi-recognition sites, and their recent progress applied in crucial biomolecules, such as catecholamines, ATP and biothiols, etc. Finally, current challenges and future prospects are discussed.