A class of photo-caged and cell permeable fluorescent molecules having high uncaging cross sections, robust fluorescence enhancement, and flexible chemistry for bioconjugation. Some of the photo-caged fluorescent molecules are derived from 6-chloro-7-hydroxy-coumarin 3-carboxamide. The fluorescent molecules are useful for cellular imaging applications and particularly for tracing the molecular transfer between cellular gap junctions. The fluorescent molecules also have an emission wavelength that spectrally complements with the emission wavelength of other fluorophores, enabling simultaneous multi-color imaging.