Water-soluble phosphonate-substituted BODIPY derivatives with tunable emission channels.

Water-soluble BODIPY dyes have been readily obtained by introduction of phosphonate fragments either on the boron for the green and yellow emitting dyes or on the side chain for the red emitting dyes. Hydrolysis of the phosphonate is realized at the end of the reaction sequence and allows isolation of the targets by precipitation. All these novel dyes are soluble and fluorescent in water with quantum yields in the 23-59% range and emission wavelength spanning from 667 to 509 nm.