Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Jun;35(6):3799-3828.
doi: 10.1007/s10895-024-03843-1. Epub 2024 Jul 17.

Mechanistic Innovations in Fluorescent Chemosensors for Detecting Toxic Ions: PET, ICT, ESIPT, FRET and AIE Approaches

Duraisamy Udhayakumari  1
Affiliations
Review

Mechanistic Innovations in Fluorescent Chemosensors for Detecting Toxic Ions: PET, ICT, ESIPT, FRET and AIE Approaches

Duraisamy Udhayakumari. J Fluoresc. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Fluorescent chemosensors have become vital tools for detecting toxic ions due to their exceptional sensitivity, selectivity, and rapid response times. These sensors function through various mechanisms, each providing unique advantages for specific applications. This review offers a comprehensive overview of the mechanistic innovations in fluorescent chemosensors, emphasizing five key approaches: Photoinduced Electron Transfer (PET), Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET), Intramolecular Charge Transfer (ICT), Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE), and Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer (ESIPT). We highlight the substantial progress made in developing these chemosensors, discussing their design principles, sensing mechanisms, and practical applications, with a particular focus on their use in detecting toxic ions relevant to environmental and biological contexts.

Keywords: Detection; Fluorescence; Fluorophores; Mechanisms; Sensing; Toxic analytes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing Interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Al-Saidi HM, Khan S (2024) Recent advances in thiourea based colorimetric and fluorescent chemosensors for detection of anions and neutral analytes: a review. Cri Rev Anal Chem 54:93–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408347.2022.2063017 - DOI
    1. Algethami JS, Al-Saidi HM, Alosaimi EH, Alnaam YA, Al-Ahmary KM, Khan S (2024) Recent advancements in fluorometric and colorimetric detection of Cd2+ using organic chemosensors: a review (2019–2024). Cri Rev Anal Chem 1–20:1. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408347.2024.2339968 - DOI
    1. Chatterjee S, Liu B, Peng H-S (2024) Chelation strategies in spiropyran-based chemosensors for colorimetric and fluorescent sensing of metal ions and anions. Coord Chem Rev 508:215779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2024.215779 - DOI
    1. Ye F-Y, Hu M, Zheng Y-S (2023) Advances and challenges of metal ions sensors based on AIE effect. Coor Chem Rev 493:215328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2023.215328 - DOI
    1. Afrin AC, Ayya Swamy P (2023) Novel Schiff base derivatives for the detection of one-to-multi metal ions and tracking the live cell imaging. Coor Chem Rev 494:215327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2023.215327 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources