Introductory Chapter: BODIPY Dye, an All-in-One Molecular Scaffold for (Bio)Photonics

Abstract

Dye chemistry has witnessed a renewed interest in the last years. The reason of such impressive growth relies on the modern avenues in organic chemistry, which allow to develop new molecular structures, or decorate the backbone of an available chromophore with the desired substitution pattern, fulfilling the specific requirements of a given application field [1]. In this regard, those organic molecules able to emit fluorescence are receiving a great deal of attention owing to the recent technological advances in high-resolution spectroscopic techniques based on fluorescence. In fact, the Nobel Prize in 2014 was awarded to the development of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (nanoscopy) [2–4]. Moreover, nowadays, bioimaging has become likely the most successful and widely used technique to monitor biochemical events at real time following the fluorescence emission of probes, sensors, and markers [5].