ABSTRACT
Dye research and application have always been dominated by the demands of textile chemistry. However, in recent years the fast growing high technology unconventional applications of colorants in such areas as optoelectronics—optical storage of information, liquid crystal displays, solar cells, light collectors, laser dyes, nonlinear optics; modern reprographics—electrophotography (i.e., photocopiers and laser printers, thermal and ink-jet printers); medical and biological applications (e.g., photodynamic therapy); and optical fiber sensors for diagnostic and analytical purposes, fluorogenic labeling, and security—light-emitting diode (LED) and NIR bar code detection have revealed the need for new dyes with specific functional properties, the so-called functional dyes [1-9].
