Coumarin-based fluorescent probes for the detection of ions, biomolecules and biochemical species responsible for diseases

Research on fluorescent probes has come a long way in the last few years. Among a palette of small molecule fluorescent probes, coumarin-based probes have gained a lot of attention in the last few decades. Considerable advancements have been made in the development and application of coumarin fluorescent probes. These are becoming more widely used in biochemistry, environmental protection, and disease detection due to their substantial Stokes shift, high quantum yield, excellent biocompatibility, and cell-membrane permeability. Novel coumarin fluorescent probes can be designed by altering the current substituents on the coumarin scaffold and can be applied to detection and identification of several analytes by conjugating it with a variety of recognition units. To date, several reviews on coumarin-based small molecular probes have been reported. The current review focuses on the recent advances of these coumarin probes since 2018.