Recent Developments in the Design of New Water-Soluble Boron Dipyrromethenes and Their Applications: An Updated Review

Boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) and its derivatives playan importantrole in the area of organic fluorophore chemistry. Recently, the water-solubleboron-dipyrromethene dyes have increasingly received interest. Thestructural modification of the BODIPY core by incorporating differentneutral and ionic hydrophilic groups makes it water-soluble. The importanthydrophilic groups, such as quaternary ammonium, sulfonate, oligoethyleneglycol, dicarboxylic acid, and sugar moieties significantly increasethe solubility of these dyes in water while preserving their photophysicalproperties. As a result, these fluorescent dyes are utilized in aqueoussystems for applications such as chemosensors, cell imaging, anticancer,biolabeling, biomedicine, metal ion detection, and photodynamic treatment.This review covers the most current developments in the design andsynthesis of water-soluble BODIPY derivatives and their wide applicationssince 2014.