History Lanthanide probes

eufod, example of europium complex

it has been known since 1930s salts of lanthanides fluorescent. reaction of lanthanide salts nucleic acids discussed in number of publications during 1930s , 1940s lanthanum-containing reagents employed fixation of nucleic acid structures. in 1942 complexes of europium, terbium, , samarium discovered exhibit unusual luminescence properties when excited uv light. however, first staining of biological cells lanthanides occurred twenty years later when bacterial smears of e. coli treated aqueous solutions of europium complex, under mercury lamp illumination appeared bright red spots. attention lanthanide probes increased in mid-1970s when finnish researchers proposed eu(iii), sm(iii), tb(iii), , dy(iii) polyaminocarboxylates luminescent sensors in time-resolved luminescent (trl) immunoassays. optimization of analytical methods 1970s onward lanthanide chelates , time-resolved luminescence microscopy (trlm) resulted in use of lanthanide probes in many scientific, medical , commercial fields.