The Use of Coumarins as Environmentally-Sensitive Fluorescent Probes of Heterogeneous Inclusion Systems 英文参考文献.docVIP

Molecules 2009, 14, 210-237; doi:10.3390/moleculeOPEN ACCESS molecules ISSN 1420-3049 /journal/molecules Review The Use of Coumarins as Environmentally-Sensitive Fluorescent Probes of Heterogeneous Inclusion Systems Brian D. Wagner Department of Chemistry, University of Prince Edward Island, 550 University Ave, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3 Canada * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-mail: bwagner@upei.ca. Received: 8 December 2008; in revised form: 23 December 2008 / Accepted: 4 January 2009 / Published: 6 January 2009 Abstract: Coumarins, as a family of molecules, exhibit a wide range of fluorescence emission properties. In many cases, this fluorescence is extremely sensitive to the local environment of the molecule, especially the local polarity and microviscosity. In addition, coumarins show a wide range of size, shape, and hydrophobicity. These properties make them especially useful as fluorescent probes of heterogeneous environments, such as supramolecular host cavities, micelles, polymers and solids. This article will review the use of coumarins to probe such heterogeneous systems using fluorescence spectroscopy. Keywords: Coumarins; Fluorescence spectroscopy; Fluorescent probes; Heterogeneous systems; Host-guest inclusion. Introduction Coumarins, or benzo-α-pyrones, are a very large and important family of compounds. Their defining structure consists of fused pyrone and benzene rings, with the pyrone carbonyl group at position 2 [1]; this structure is illustrated in Figure 1 for the coumarin parent molecule (IUPAC name: 2H-chromen-2-one, and also known as 1-benzopyran-2-one). Coumarins are widely occurring in nature, with coumarin itself first isolated in 1820 from a specific variety of bean, and many other coumarin derivatives found in a wide range of plants [1]. As a group, coumarins exhibit interesting fluorescence propertie