Fluorescence reporter is the key element of any sensing or imaging
technology. Its optimal choice and implementation is very important for
increasing the sensitivity, precision, multiplexing power, and also the
spectral, temporal, and spatial reso- tion in different methods of
research and practical analysis. Therefore, design of ?uorescence
reporters with advanced properties is one of the most important
problems. In this volume, top experts in this ?eld provide advanced
knowledge on the design and properties of ?uorescent dyes. Organic dyes
were the ?rst ?uorescent materials used for analytical purposes, and we
observe that they retain their leading positions against strong
competition of new materials - conjugated polymers, semiconductor
nanocrystals, and metal chelating complexes. Recently, molecular and
cellular biology got a valuable tool of organic ?uorophores synt- sized
by cell machinery and incorporated into green ?uorescent protein and its
analogs. Demands of various ?uorescence techniques operating in
spectral, anisotropy, and time domains require focused design of
?uorescence reporters well adapted to these techniques. Near-IR spectral
range becomes more and more attractive for various applications, and new
dyes emitting in this range are strongly requested. Two-photonic
?uorescence has become one of the major tools in bioimaging, and
?uorescence reporters well adapted to this technique are in urgent need.
These problems cannot be solved without the knowledge of fundamental
principles of dye design and of physical phenomena behind their
?uorescence response.