Photoactivatable fluorescent probes for spatiotemporal-controlled biosensing and imaging

Designing fluorescent probes for accurately analyzing target molecules of interest become fascinating and vital in the view of biology and biomedicine. Conventional fluorescent probes are often obscured by the interference from biological autofluorescence, off-target effects, and a lack of spatiotemporal control. As a newly developed paradigm, photoactivatable fluorescent probes (PFPs), whose sensing or imaging behaviors can be remotely activated by light, provide great potentials in biochemical information acquisition with high spatial and temporal resolution. Over the past decades, substantial progress has been made in designing PFPs for sensing and imaging of biologically active molecules. In this review, we display an overview of current representative strategies and their underlying mechanisms, including light-inducible target recognition, light-controlled enzymatic activity, and photoactivatable fluorophores. Finally, the challenges and prospects in this promising field are featured on the basis of its current development.