Coumarin-Synthetic Methodologies, Pharmacology, and Application as Natural Fluorophore

Coumarins are secondary metabolites made up of benzene and α-pyrone rings fused together that can potentially treat various ailments, including cancer, metabolic, and degenerative disorders. Coumarins are a diverse category of both naturally occurring as well as synthesized compounds with numerous biological and therapeutic properties. Coumarins as fluorophores play a key role in fluorescent labeling of biomolecules, metal ion detection, microenvironment polarity detection, and pH detection. This review provides a detailed insight into the characteristics of coumarins as well as their biosynthesis in plants and metabolic pathways. Various synthetic strategies for coumarin core involving both conventional and green methods have been discussed comparing advantages and disadvantages of each method. Conventional methods discussed are Pechmann, Knoevenagel, Perkin, Wittig, Kostanecki, Buchwald-Hartwig, and metal-induced coupling reactions such as Heck and Suzuki, as well as green approaches involving microwave or ultrasound energy. Various pharmacological applications of coumarin derivatives are discussed in detail. The structural features and conditions responsible for influencing the fluorescence of coumarin core are also elaborated.

Synthesis and application of coumarin fluorescence probes

In recent years, the research on fluorescent probes has developed rapidly. Coumarin fluorescent probes have also been one of the hot topics in recent years. For the synthesis and application of coumarin fluorescent probes, great progress has been made. Coumarin fluorescent probes have become more and more widely used in biochemistry, environmental protection, and disease prevention, and have broad prospects. This review introduces the three main light emitting mechanisms (PET, ICT, FRET) of fluorescent probes, and enumerates some probes based on this light emitting mechanism. In terms of the synthesis of coumarin fluorescent probes, the existing substituents on the core of coumarin compounds were modified. Based on the positions of the modified substituents, some of the fluorescent probes reported in the past ten years are listed. Most of the fluorescent probes are formed by modifying the 3 and 7 position substituents on the mother nucleus, and the 4 and 8 position substituents are relatively less modified. In terms of probe applications, the detection and application of coumarin fluorescent probes for Cu²⁺, Hg²⁺, Mg²⁺, Zn²⁺, pH, environmental polarity, and active oxygen and sulfide in the past ten years are mainly introduced.

In recent years, the research on fluorescent probes has developed rapidly.

Coumarin-Based Small-Molecule Fluorescent Chemosensors

Coumarins are a very large family of compounds containing the unique 2H-chromen-2-one motif, as it is known according to IUPAC nomenclature. Coumarin derivatives are widely found in nature, especially in plants and are constituents of several essential oils. Up to now, thousands of coumarin derivatives have been isolated from nature or produced by chemists. More recently, the coumarin platform has been widely adopted in the design of small-molecule fluorescent chemosensors because of its excellent biocompatibility, strong and stable fluorescence emission, and good structural flexibility. This scaffold has found wide applications in the development of fluorescent chemosensors in the fields of molecular recognition, molecular imaging, bioorganic chemistry, analytical chemistry, materials chemistry, as well as in the biology and medical science communities. This review focuses on the important progress of coumarin-based small-molecule fluorescent chemosensors during the period of 2012-2018. This comprehensive and critical review may facilitate the development of more powerful fluorescent chemosensors for broad and exciting applications in the future.

New Thiol-Sensitive Dye Application for Measuring Oxidative Stress in Cell Cultures

A xanthene derivative, Granada Green dinitrobenzene sulfonate (GGDNBS), has been synthesized to assay cellular oxidative stress based on changes in the concentration of biothiols. The dye is able to react with biological thiols by a thiolysis reaction that promotes a change in fluorescence intensity. To demonstrate the usefulness of GGDNBS for in vivo oxidative stress measurements, 661 W photoreceptor-derived cells were exposed to light to induce ROS generation, and changes in GGDNBS fluorescence were measured. In these cells, GGDNBS fluorescence was correlated with the biothiol levels measured by an enzymatic method. Therefore, GGDNBS allows us to monitor changes in the levels of biothiols associated with ROS generation via single-cell bioimaging.

An excited state intramolecular proton transfer dye based fluorescence turn-on probe for fast detection of thiols and its applications in bioimaging

In this study, a new fluorescent probe 2-(2'-hydroxy-5'-N-maleimide phenyl)-benzothiazole (probe 1), was designed and synthesized by linking the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) fluorophore to the maleimide group for selective detection of thiols in aqueous solution. The fluorescence of probe 1 is strongly quenched by maleimide group through the photo-induced electron transfer (PET) mechanism, but after reaction with thiol, the fluorescence of ESIPT fluorophore is restored, affording a large Stokes shifts. Upon addition of cysteine (Cys), probe 1 exhibited a fast response time (complete within 30s) and a high signal-to-noise ratio (up to 23-fold). It showed a high selectivity and excellent sensitivity to thiols over other relevant biological species, with a detection limit of 3.78×10^-8M (S/N=3). Moreover, the probe was successfully applied to the imaging of thiols in living cells.

One-pot transition-metal-free cascade synthesis of thieno[2,3-c]coumarins from chromones

A one-pot transition-metal-free, base-mediated synthesis of a novel series of functionalized thieno[2,3-c]coumarins has been developed through a cascade reaction from chromones.

Novel pyrazoline-based fluorescent probe for detecting thiols and its application in cells

A new compound, N-(4-(1,5-diphenyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)phenyl)-acrylamide (probe L), was designed and synthesized as a highly sensitive and selective fluorescent probe for recognizing and detecting thiol from other amino acids. On being mixed with thiol in buffered DMSO:HEPES=1:1 solution at pH 7.4, the probe exhibited the blue emission at 474 nm. This probe is very sensitive and displayed a linear fluorescence off-on response to thiol. The fluorescence emission of the probe is pH independent in the physiological pH range. Living cell imaging of HeLa cells confirmed its cell permeability and its ability to selectively detect thiol in cells. The structure of the probe was characterized by IR, NMR and HRMS spectroscopy analysis.

Highly sensitive and selective detection of biothiols by a new low dose colorimetric and fluorescent probe

A low dose colorimetric and fluorescent turn-on probe for highly selective and sensitive detection of biothiols was reported.

A benzimidazolium-based organic trication: a selective fluorescent sensor for detecting cysteine in water

A benzimidazolium- and imidazolium-based trication was developed as a selective fluorescence probe for cysteine.