Progress of Fluorescent Probes with Perylene Tetracarboxylic Diimide as Chromophore

In recent years, molecular fluorescent probes have attracted extensive attention due to their high sensitivity, high selectivity, specificity and simplicity of design. Perylene tetracarboxylic diimide derivatives (PDIs) are well known for their excellent photothermal stability, chemical stability, high fluorescence quantum yield, large stokes shift and easy modification. Therefore, they can be used as excellent fluorophores. PDI itself has strong electron-withdrawing group and easily to be reduced but it is hard to be oxidized. However, due to their inherent structure, the poor water solubility and aggregatable ablility limited their applications in biological fields. The water solubility of PDI was improved by introducing hydrophilic groups into the structure. Therefore, the PDIs with the unique advantages will have potential application values in the field of fluorescence probe and has been developed rapidly for the past few years. The development of PDI as a chromophore in fluorescent probe for the detection of ion, gas, biomolecules, etc. is systematically summarized. Meanwhile, the design of the probes, fluorescence response mechanism and application of the probe are also discussed. Finally, a novel type of PDI fluorescent probe is proposed. The challenge of construction of the PDIs and future development are also reviewed.