Recent progress of fluorescent probe for selective detection of silver (i)

Silver and its complexes, are toxic to bacteria, algae, and fungi while it is the least toxic for humans among. Silver ions and silver nanomaterials irreversibly bind with the key enzyme systems in the cell membranes of pathogens. In fact, recent study has shown that silver ion can cause severe damage to both humans and the environment. Thus, blood silver (argyraemia) and urine silver excretion are useful clinical indices of human silver exposure. In order to detect silver ions, some traditional methods such as atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) etc. have been proposed in literature. However, these methods often require expensive equipment and complicated techniques. In contrast, detection by fluorescence techniques is highly attractive due to its high sensitivity and real-time detection approach in a non-destructive way. This review article covers the design of fluorogenic probes, mechanistic behaviour of Ag(I) detection and their application in living cell imaging.