Emerging solvatochromic push–pull dyes for monitoring the lipid order of biomembranes in live cells

Abstract Solvatochromic dyes have emerged as a new class of fluorescent probes in the field of lipid membranes due to their ability to identify the lipid organization of biomembranes in live cells by changing the colour of their fluorescence. This type of solvatochromic function is useful for studying the heterogeneous features of biomembranes caused by the uneven distribution of lipids and cholesterols in live cells and related cellular processes. Therefore, a variety of advanced solvatochromic dyes have been rapidly developed over the last decade. To provide an overview of the works recently developed solvatochromic dyes have enabled, we herein present some solvatochromic dyes, with a particular focus on those based on pyrene and Nile red. As these dyes exhibit preferable photophysical properties in terms of fluorescence microscopy applications and unique distribution/localization in cellular compartments, some have already found applications in cell biological and biophysical studies. The goal of this review is to provide information to researchers who have never used solvatochromic dyes or who have not discovered applications of such dyes in biological studies.