Merocyanines: Synthesis and Application

Abstract

The rapid progress of information technology continues to stimulate the explo- ration of innovative materials and architectures for digital processing. Merocyanine dyes appear to be potential candidates for the realization of future data-elaboration, -storage, and -communication devices. While the early stages of this research have been mainly concerned with applications in the fields of photography and medicine, most of the current work on these dyes involves investigation of moderate-to-large intermolecular aggregates, including both red-shifted “J” and blue-shifted “H” aggregates, optical and fluorescent sensors, and applications in solar engineering and medicine. This review sum- marizes advances in the synthesis, structure, and applications of merocyanine dyes over the last decade.