New fluorescent dyes in the red region for biodiagnostics

The increased sensitivity together with the advent of low-cost optical sources and detectors in the visible-near IR region has led us to current efforts to develop new efficient fluorescent labels for biodiagnostics with absorption and emission beyond 600 nm. In view of the general fluorescence decrease with increasing emission wavelength, we investigated the possibility to shift the absorption of rhodamine dyes toward the region 620-670 nm. The hydrophobic nature of all known long-wavelength dyes results in the tendency to form intra- and intermolecular aggregates in hydrophilic solvents, especially in aqueous environment. Due to the aggregation with biological materials, fluorescence quenching of the dyes is often observed. New strategies for prevention of these processes are considered.