title: Recent progress in the design and applications of fluorescence probes containing crown ethers.
abstract: Crown ethers, discovered by the winner of the Nobel Prize Charles Pedersen, are cyclic chemical compounds that consist of a ring or multiple rings containing several ether groups that are capable of binding alkali ions. A smart fluorescent probe containing a crown ether moiety could be developed as a sensor for metal ions, anions and other bio-molecules and be further applied to monitor the relevant biological process in vivo. This review highlights recent advances which can be divided into seven parts: (i) fluorescent probes containing a simple crown ether or an aza-crown ether structure; (ii) fluorescent probes containing an azathia crown ether; (iii) fluorescent probes containing a cryptand; (iv) fluorescent probes containing two or more binding sites; (v) crown ether derivatives-metal complex assisted chemosensing of bioactive species; (vi) crown ether-based chemosensors for bioactive molecular detection; and (vii) efforts to improve biological relevance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Nanoscience, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-75, Korea. jyoon@ewha.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Dajeong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yim
authors.forename: Woo-Dong
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Juyoung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoon
mesh_terms: D043844:Crown Ethers / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D057054:Molecular Imaging; D061848:Optical Imaging
chemical_list: D043844:Crown Ethers; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes