A Review on Recent Advances in Peptide-based Fluorescence Probes and their Potential Applications

With the development and maturity of classical solid-state synthesis techniques, peptide synthesis has become more convenient. With the continuous progress of research in the field of life sciences, more and more peptides have been elucidated in terms of their structure and biological functions. Due to the excellent biocompatibility, specificity, selectivity, and low cytotoxicity, peptide-based fluorescent probes have been widely explored and applied in chemical, biological, medical and other fields. This review summarized the characteristics of peptide-based fluorescence probes in terms of long fluorescence lifetime, high stability, large Stokes shift, high fluorescence quantum yield, high selectivity and sensitivity. Several types of peptide-based fluorescence probes, such as peptide basic fluorescence, embedded fluorescence molecules, coupled fluorescence groups, and self-assembled fluorescence, were also described. Finally, we summarized the applications of peptide-based fluorescent probes in biological imaging, disease detection, ion detection, and biomolecule detection. This review may provide a guarantee and inspiration for further development of the peptide-based fluorescent probes in the field of biological applications.