TY - CHAP A1 - Licha, K. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute ED - Brahme, A. T1 - Fluorescent reporters and optical probes T2 - Comprehensive biomedical physics N2 - Organic fluorescent dyes are a fundamental component in biomedical research and diagnostic imaging. The major classes encompass polymethine dyes, xanthene dyes, 4,4'-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY) dyes, phenoxazines, and rare earth metal complexes. These compounds have been synthesized in manifold variations to optimize their photophysical properties and physicochemical behavior in physiological media and to enable conjugation to targeting molecules and nanocarriers. Furthermore, stimuli-responsive structural motifs were designed to apply these fluorophores as sensors for disease-related physiological and molecular conditions. This chapter is devoted to the chemical base of optical imaging agents, covering the relevant properties of fluorophores and the synthetic concepts toward intelligent optical imaging probes. KW - Chemistry KW - Fluorescent dye KW - Labeling KW - Near-infrared KW - Optical imaging KW - Sensor PY - 2014 SN - 978-0-444-53632-7 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53632-7.00402-0 VL - 4 SP - Chapter 4.08, 85 EP - 109 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-31635 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -