Small molecular fluorescent probes based on covalent assembly

“Covalent assembly” refers to a novel principle for probe design. The theme of probes via covalent assembly is the in situ formation of the push-pull conjugative backbone of a chromophore/fluorophore, via substrate-of-interest triggered cascade reaction. The advantage of this principle is the desired turn-on absorption/fluorescence signal from a dark background. The classic probes following the general idea of “covalent assembly” has been reviewed.