Recent Advances on Iron(III) Selective Fluorescent Probes with Possible Applications in Bioimaging.

Iron(III) is well-known to play a vital role in a variety of metabolic processes in almost all living systems, including the human body. However, the excess or deficiency of Fe from the normal permissible limit can cause serious health problems. Therefore, novel analytical methods are developed for the simple, direct, and cost-effective monitoring of Fe concentration in various environmental and biological samples. Because of the high selectivity and sensitivity, fast response time, and simplicity, the fluorescent-based molecular probes have been developed extensively in the past few decades to detect Fe. This review was narrated to summarize the Fe-selective fluorescent probes that show fluorescence enhancement (turn-on) and ratiometric response. The Fe sensing ability, mechanisms along with the analytical novelties of recently reported 77 fluorescent probes are discussed.