Review—Research Progress of Novel Fluorescent Probes with the Structure of Xanthene as Parent Nucleus

Xanthene dyes are a type of fluorescent dye with a π conjugated system and a unique ring-opening mechanism. Fluorescent probes with xanthene dyes as fluorescent groups have the advantages of high molar extinction coefficient, high fluorescence quantum yield, good stability, and good water solubility, making them suitable for medical imaging and biological imaging diagnosis. Therefore, this article reviews the research progress of xanthene fluorescent probes in recent years in terms of pH value, reactive oxygen species, metal ions, anions, enzymes, thiol derivatives, etc, summarizes their design ideas, detection performance, and applications, and points out the development trend of xanthene fluorescent probes, providing a reference for the subsequent development and utilization of xanthene fluorescent probes.