An overview on recent advances of reversible fluorescent probes and their biological applications.

Due to the simplicity and low detection limit, fluorescent probes are widely used in both analytical sensing and optical imaging. Compared to conventional fluorescent probes, reversibility endows the reversible fluorescent probe outstanding advantages and special properties, making reversible fluorescent probes with capable of quantitative, repetitive or circulatory. Reversible fluorescent probes can also monitor the concentration dynamics of target analytes in real time, such as metal ions, proteins and enzymes, as well as intracellular redox processes, which have been widely applied in various fields. This review summarized the types and excellent properties of reversible fluorescent probes designed and developed in recent years. It also summarized the applications of reversible fluorescent probe in fluorescence imaging, biological testing, monitoring redox cycles, and proposed the remaining challenges and future development directions of the reversible fluorescent probe. This review provided comprehensive overview of reversible fluorescent probe, which may provide valuable references for the design and fabrication of the reversible fluorescent probe. [Display omitted] • It is a comprehensive review on the progress of reversible fluorescent probe. • The types, excellent properties and applications of reversible fluorescent probe were summarized and descripted. • Emphasized the challenges and highlighted the prospects of reversible fluorescent probes. • Provided valuable references for design and fabrication of reversible fluorescent probe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]