Endogenous formaldehyde responsive fluorescent probe for bioimaging

Formaldehyde (FA), as the simplest endogenous carbonyl molecule, participates in many biosynthesis and metabolism in living organisms, such as nucleotides and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). FA concentrations are sub-millimolar in the normal healthy body, but can rise significantly in a number of disease pathologies. As a result, detecting endogenous FA is critical for illness diagnosis and rehabilitation therapy monitoring. Recent studies have focused on the FA-responsive turn-on fluorescence probe, which has huge promise in the detection and visualization of FA in living cells and organisms, as well as exceptional use in disease diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring. This review summarizes the fluorescence luminescence mechanism and design concepts of FA fluorescent probes, as well as their recent applications in bioimaging and illness diagnostics. Additionally, this article indicates the present dilemma of FA-responsive fluorescent probe, including selectivity, specificity, and detection mode, which may provide references for the development of FA-responsive fluorescent probes. [graphic not available: see fulltext]