Functionalization of fluorescent lanthanide complexes and their applications to biotechnology

Lanthanide complexes have been successfully developed as fluorescence labels for the highly sensitive detection of various biological molecules with time-resolved fluorometric measurements. The applications of lanthanide fluorescence labels for bioassays, such as time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay and DNA hybridization assay, have been extensively investigated and have attracted the interest of many researchers. A time-resolved fluorescence measurement permits easy distinction of a specific fluorescence signal of long-lived labels from short-lived background fluorescence present in most biological samples, and also obviates problems associated with scattering light of the optical components. In the past several years, many new fluorescent lanthanide complexes were synthesized and developed as fluorescence labels for bioassay, and new practical systems of time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay and DNA hybridization assay were developed using these new labels. This paper reviews the developments and applications of lanthanide fluorescence labels as well as time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay and DNA hybridization assay in recent years.