Construction of fluorescent polymeric nano-thermometers for intracellular temperature imaging: A review

Multitudinous biochemical reactions occur in living cells, creating and releasing free energy to impel numerous cellular activities. Surplus energy is expelled as heat and resulted in elevated temperature, which induce control of gene expression, tumour metabolism and etc. Sensitive measurement of temperature on nanoscale in cells with ideal fluorescent probes is a great challenge in many areas. By taking the advantages of polymers in tunable critical solution temperature range and good biocompatibility, fluorescent polymeric thermometers (FPT) have drawn extensive attention because they are capable of accurate monitoring temperature with high spatial resolution at cellular level. This review offers a general overview of recent examples of FPT working in cells. The strategy for design and synthesis of the FPT has been highlighted. Furthermore, the applications of the constructed FPT for intracellular temperature variations under normal and external stimuli conditions have been discussed. Deep understanding of these aspects would lead to improvement in designing of unique FPT with real function and applications for intracellular temperature sensing. It will pave a new way not only for the study of intrinsic relationship between temperature and organelle function, but also provide the possibility for deep understanding of intracellular biological processes.