Ratiometric temperature sensing with fluorescent thermochromic switches.
Mercedes M A MazzaFrancesca CardanoJanet CusidoJames D BakerSilvia GiordaniFrançisco M RaymoPublished in: Chemical communications (Cambridge, England) (2019)
The connection of fluorescent chromophores to switchable heterocycles translates into molecular probes with ratiometric response to temperature. The opening and closing of their heterocyclic component equilibrates two emissive species with resolved fluorescence. Their relative emission intensities change monotonically with temperature to enable the visualization of thermal distributions at the microscale.