This feature article highlights the recent developments in the field of squaraine chemistry. Attempts have been made to address the relevance of squaraine dyes as a class of functional organic materials useful for electronic and photonic applications. Due to the synthetic access of a variety of squaraine dyes with structural variations and due to the strong absorption and emission properties which respond to the surrounding medium, these dyes have been receiving significant attention. Therefore, squaraine dyes have been extensively investigated in recent years, from both fundamental and technological viewpoints.

A simple ratiometric fluorescence probe based on vinylpyrrole end-capped bipyridine for the visual sensing of Zn2+ under aqueous physiological pH (6.8-7.4) is described. The fluorophores 3a-c showed strong emission around 537 nm in acetonitrile with a quantum yield of 0.4. In buffered (HEPES, pH 7.2) acetonitrile-water mixture (9:1 v/v), titration of transition metal salts to 3c showed strong quenching of the emission at 547 nm except in the case of Zn2+, which resulted in a red-shifted emission at 637 nm. Alkali and alkaline earth metal salts could not induce any considerable changes to the emission behavior of 3a-c. The binding of Zn2+ was highly selective in the presence of a variety of other metal ions. Though Cu2+ quenches the emission of 3c, in the presence of Zn2+, a red emission prevails, indicating the preference of 3c toward Zn2+. Job plot and Benesi-Hildebrand analysis revealed a 1:1 complexation between the probe and the metal ion. The selective visual sensing of Zn2+ with a red emission is ideally suited for the imaging of biological specimens.

The detection and imaging of Zn2+ in biological samples are of paramount interest owing to the role of this cation in physiological functions. This is possible only with molecular probes that specifically bind to Zn2+ and result in changes in emission properties. A "turn-on" emission or shift in the emission color upon binding to Zn2+ should be ideal for in vivo imaging. In this context, ratiometric and near-IR probes are of particular interest. Therefore, in the area of chemosensors or molecular probes, the design of fluorophores that allow ratiometric sensing or imaging in the near-IR region is attracting the attention of chemists. The purpose of this Focus Review is to highlight recent developments in this area and stress the importance of further research for future applications.

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