Construction Strategy and Imaging of Highly Selective Selenocysteine Fluorescent Probes

Selenocysteine (Sec) is important in maintaining the functioning of living systems and its abnormal concentration will lead to a variety of physiological disorders. Fluorescent probes offer the advantages of high sensitivity, high spatial and temporal resolution, nondestructive and visual detection. However, the construction of highly selective selenocysteine probes for in vivo imaging is challenging due to the interference of biothiols. In recent years, various design strategies have been adopted to improve probe selectivity, accuracy and fluorescence properties. The research progress of Sec fluorescent probes in terms of design principles, performance characteristics and imaging applications based on the type of recognition mechanism is reviewed, and the challenges and development trends in this field are predicted.