Julolidine-based probes for detection of analytes

Chemosensing probes exhibit promising prospects in the detection of various species of chemical, environmental and biological significance. The key point of such probes is the molecular recognition event accomplished by a receptor and a signalling unit. A number of techniques such as electrochemistry, flow injection, inductively-coupled plasma mass spectroscopy etc. are employed for quantification of the ion recognition process, but the limitations of skilled operations, maintenance of such sophisticated instruments and the associated time consuming procedures have given way to more popular and sensitive fluorimetric and colorimetric techniques, the basic principles of which rely on the color changes in emission and absorption spectra arising due to the perturbations in the structure-dependent photophysical properties. Owing to the versatile fluorescence properties of julolidine, the julolidine based probes have been explored for their potential as fluorescent probes for a wide range of applications such as detection of volatile organic compounds, sensing of ions in solution as well as in biological media, etc. In this review, we have systematically summarised the progress (2015 onwards) in the application of the rather underappreciated Julolidine based probes as fluorimetric and colorimetric chemosensors for the detection of different analytes.