Graphical Abstract: Eur. J. Org. Chem. 19/2010

The cover picture shows a unique bird's eye view of the regular park in Strelna – one of the most desolate, yet stunning historical suburbs of St. Petersburg (Russia). Famous European architects of the 18th century, such as C.‐B. Rastrelli, A. Le Blanc, G.‐B. Chiprianni, P. Michetti, and L. Ruska, participated in the construction of “the Russian Versailles” – this is what the Russian Tsar Peter the Great planned this country residence to be. The northern façade of the Konstantinovsky Palace looks at the hazy and rainy Gulf of Finland. The regular cyclic pattern of the park lanes and shipping canals is reminiscent of the polycyclic structure of carbopyronine dyes decorated with hydrophilic groups. These fluorescent markers are described in the article by V. N. Belov, S. W. Hell et al. on p. 3593 ff. The authors report a detailed and strategically sound synthesis of the carbopyronine scaffold with great potential for dye design. Important photophysical properties and some nanoscopic applications of the new red emitting dyes are also described, and interesting future applications (e.g. as caged carbopyronines) are mentioned. Photo: V. N. Belov; the artwork of Mr. H. Sebesse (Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Gttingen, Germany) is acknowledged.