Lanthanide-based luminescence probes and time-resolved luminescence bioassays

Time-resolved luminescence bioassays based on lanthanide-luminescence probes have become common, useful tools in clinical diagnostics and bioanalytical chemistry. The unique spectral and temporal properties of lanthanide-luminescence probes, such as very long luminescence lifetime, large Stokes Shift and sharp emission profile, make them an ideal choice for use in time-resolved luminescence bioassays to discriminate background noises effectively. This review gives an overview of recent developments in lanthanide-luminescence probes and their applications in time-resolved luminescence bioassays. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.