Fluorescent and colorimetric chemosensors for cations based on 1,8-naphthalimide derivatives: design principles and optical signalling mechanisms

The application of 1,8-naphthalimide derivatives as the photoactive units for the design of optical chemosensors for metal cations and protons with different mechanisms of analyte binding signal transduction and different receptors is discussed. Examples are given of fluorescent and colorimetric cation chemosensors in which the change of the spectral characteristics of the naphthalimide chromophore upon complex formation is due to switching of photophysical processes of charge transfer, electron transfer, energy transfer or excimer formation. The problems of detection of heavy and transition metal cations as well as development of ratiometric optical probes are discussed.
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