Fluorescent Probes Containing Selenium as a Guest or Host

Selenium is an important trace element in living systems. Proteins incorporating selenium have a wide range of biological effects, ranging from anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects to the production of active thyroid hormones. In the past decades, selenium has drawn enormous attention because of its important role in biology, which can be ascribed partly if not solely to its redox and hard and soft donor properties. With the use of chemical mimicry, a large number of selenium-related fluorescent probes have been developed for monitoring physiological and pathological processes. This review, which summarizes recent progress made in this area, comprises two major sections. In the first section, fluorescent probes for selenium-containing species, such as selenocysteine (Sec), hydrogen selenide, thioredoxin reductases (TrxRs), and selenite, are described. This is followed by a discussion of fluorescent probes that contain selenium and detect reactive oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur species, as well as cations and anions.