Self‐Immolative Systems in Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications

Self‐immolative systems first emerged in prodrug chemistry in the 1980s. Since then, several types of self‐immolative systems have been developed. Despite their structural differences, all self‐immolative systems operate on the same principle: an intramolecular reaction cascade triggered by a specific stimulus, ultimately leading to the release of a molecule of interest. Self‐immolative systems offer the possibility of delivering molecules safely, ensuring their specific, residue‐free release at a defined location. Consequently, they have been applied in various fields, including targeted drug delivery, detection of protein biomarkers and small endogenous molecules, signal amplification, and the engineering of nanomedicines. Self‐immolative systems therefore represent a versatile platform for chemical engineering in biomedical sciences.