Optical nanoprobes for aminothiols sensing in real-world samples

Abstract

It is now known that aminothiols have relevance to many important human diseases, such as homocysteine concentrations reflecting cardiovascular status and glutathione levels corresponding to the degree of redox in the body. Therefore, the development and applications of aminothiol-sensitive optical probes have been a considerable area of research in recent years. This review focuses on the discussion of aminothiols-sensitive fluorescence, colorimetric and Raman nanoprobes based on specific reactions between nanoprobes and amionthiols, including formation of metal-sulfur bonds, coordination of Hg2+and aminothiols, reduction of oxidized substrate by aminthiols, and redox reaction of MnO2 nanosheets and aminothiols. We also highlighted representative examples associated with the applications of aminothiol-sensitive probes in real-world samples, including human fluids, live cells, and mice.