While chemosensors were first defined in the 1980s, the first example of such a fluorescent chemosensor can be documented to be that of Friedrich Goppelsroder, who in 1867, developed a method for the determination/sensing of aluminium ion, using fluorescent ligand/chelate. This and subsequent work by others, gave birth to what is considered as modern analytical chemistry.
In the 1980s the development of chemosensing was achieved by Anthony W. Czarnik, A. Prasanna de Silva and Roger Tsien, who developed various types of luminescent probes for ions and molecules in solutions and within biological cells, for real-time applications. Tsien went on to study and developing this area of research further by developing and studding fluorescent proteins for applications in biology, such as green fluorescent proteins (GFP) for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008. The work of Lynn Sousa in the late 1970s, on the detection of alkali metal ions, possibly resulting in one of the first examples of the use of supramolecular chemistry in fluorescent sensing design, as well as that of J.-M. Lehn, H. Bouas-Laurent and co-workers at Université Bordeaux I, France. The development of PET sensing of transition metal ions was developed by L. Fabbrizzi, among others.
In chemosensing, the use of fluorophore connected to the receptor via a covalent spacer is now commonly referred to as fluorophores-spacer-receptor principle. In such systems, the sensing event is normally described as being due to changes in the photophysical properties of the chemosensor systems due to chelation induced enhanced fluorescence (CHEF), and photoinduced electron transfer (PET), mechanisms. In principle the two mechanisms are based on the same idea; the communication pathway is in the form of a through-space electron transfer from the electron rich receptors to the electron deficient fluorophores (through space). This results in fluorescence quenching (active electron transfer), and the emission from the chemosensor is switched off,  for both mechanisms in the absence of the analytes. However, upon forming a host–guest complex between the analyte and receptor, the communication pathway is broken and the fluorescence emission from the fluorophores is enhanced, or switched on. In other words, the fluorescence intensity and quantum yield are enhanced upon analyte recognition.
The fluorophores-receptor can also be integrated within the chemosensor. This leads to changes in the emission wavelength, which often results in change in colour. When the sensing event results in the formation of a signal that is visible to the naked eye, such sensors are normally referred to as colorimetric. Many examples of colorimetric chemosensors for ions such as fluoride have been developed. A pH indicator can be consider as a colorimetric chemosensors for protons. Such sensors have been developed for other cations, as well as anions and larger organic and biological molecules, such as proteins and carbohydrates.