Progress on Fluorescent Probes for Thiols

Thiols, which are components of many proteins will simple molecules, play an important role in the cellular antioxidant defense system. The quantitative determination of thiols is important in biochemistry and clinical chemistry. Fluorescent probes, which have its apparent advantages in sensitivity and, most importantly, in imaging thiols in vivo, even in single living cells, appear to be particularly attractive. In this review, we classify the fluorescent probes based on their different reaction mechanisms with thiols and summarize the recent progresses of thiols fluorescent probes with fifty-one references. Particularly, the research actuality, the developing trends and prospects in the future were also discussed.