Combinatorial Strategies in Fluorescent Probe Development

Studies relating to the role of combinatorial and high-throughput strategies in the development of fluorescent probes during the last five years, mainly as a result of the expansion of combinatorial chemistry on fluorescent scaffolds and the major improvements in high-throughput screenings and imaging methodologies, are discussed. A group of Lu has engineered libraries of catalytic DNA to prepare sensors for Pb2+ and Zn2+ ions. Chang and co-workers reported a diversity-oriented fluorescent library for the development of photostable near-infrared (NIR) dyes and derivatized a tricarbocyanine structure by nucleophilic substitution with 80 amines and subsequent acetylation. Chang and coworkers reported one of the first examples with a fluorescence image-based screen to discover an α-cell probe. A group also reported the high-throughput imaging screening of 320 rosamine compounds and discovered two fluorescent molecules with specific localization in the neural bodies and their projections as well as a good colocalization with commercially available neural tracers.