The advent of chemical tools for cellular imaging--from organic dyes to green fluorescent proteins--has revolutionized the fields of molecular biology and biochemistry. Lanthanide-based probes are a new player in this area, as the last decade has seen the emergence of the first responsive luminescent lanthanide probes specifically intended for imaging cellular processes. The potential of these probes is still undervalued by the scientific community. Indeed, this class of probes offers several advantages over organic dyes and fluorescent proteins. Their very long luminescence lifetimes enable quantitative spatial determination of the intracellular concentration of an analyte through time-gating measurements. Their emission bands are very narrow and do not overlap, enabling the simultaneous use of multiple lanthanide probes to quantitatively detect several analytes without cross-interference. Herein we describe the principles behind the development of this class of probes. Sensors for a desired analyte can be designed by rationally manipulating the parameters that influence the luminescence of lanthanide complexes. We will discuss sensors based on varying the number of inner-sphere water molecules, the distance separating the antenna from the lanthanide ion, the energies of excited states of the antenna, and PeT switches.

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Ferric-hydroperoxo complexes have been identified as intermediates in the catalytic cycle of biological oxidants, but their role as key oxidants is still a matter of debate. Among the numerous synthetic low-spin Fe(III)(OOH) complexes characterized to date, [(L(5)(2))Fe(OOH)](2+) is the only one that has been isolated in the solid state at low temperature, which has provided a unique opportunity for inspecting its oxidizing properties under single-turnover conditions. In this report we show that [(L(5)(2))Fe(OOH)](2+) decays in the presence of aromatic substrates, such as anisole and benzene in acetonitrile, with first-order kinetics. In addition, the phenol products are formed from the aromatic substrates with similar first-order rate constants. Combining the kinetic data obtained at different temperatures and under different single-turnover experimental conditions with experiments performed under catalytic conditions by using the substrate [1,3,5-D(3)]benzene, which showed normal kinetic isotope effects (KIE>1) and a notable hydride shift (NIH shift), has allowed us to clarify the role played by Fe(III)(OOH) in aromatic oxidation. Several lines of experimental evidence in support of the previously postulated mechanism for the formation of two caged Fe(IV)(O) and OH(·) species from the Fe(III)(OOH) complex have been obtained for the first time. After homolytic O-O cleavage, a caged pair of oxidants [Fe(IV)O+HO(·)] is generated that act in unison to hydroxylate the aromatic ring: HO(·) attacks the ring to give a hydroxycyclohexadienyl radical, which is further oxidized by Fe(IV)O to give a cationic intermediate that gives rise to a NIH shift upon ketonization before the final re-aromatization step. Spin-trapping experiments in the presence of 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide and GC-MS analyses of the intermediate products further support the proposed mechanism.