Squarylium compounds of the formula: ##STR1## (in which Q.sup.1 and Q.sup.2 are each a chromophoric group having an aromatic unsaturated system conjugated with the squarylium ring and such that in the compounds of formulae Q.sup.1 CH.sub.2 R.sup.1 and Q.sup.2 CH.sub.2 R.sup.2 the methylene hydrogens are active hydrogens, R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are each independently a hydrogen atom or an aliphatic or cycloaliphatic group, and R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 are each independently a hydrogen atom, or an acyl, aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic or heterocyclic group, subject to the proviso that one of R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 may be an amino or substituted amino group, or one of R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 is a hydrogen atom and the other is an organosulfonyl group, or R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 together with the intervening nitrogen atom form a nitrogenous heterocyclic ring) are useful as near infra-red absorbers. The presence of the amino group on the squarylium ring enables minor changes in absorption wavelength to be achieved by modifications of this group, and also allows functional groups to be incorporated into the dye without changing the chromophoric groups.
Squarylium化合物的
化学式为:##STR1##(其中Q.sup.1和Q.sup.2均为具有芳香不饱和共轭系统的色团,与squarylium环共轭,并且在化合物Q.sup.1 CH.sub.2 R.sup.1和Q.sup.2 CH.sub.2 R.sup.2的
化学式中,亚甲基氢是活性氢,R.sup.1和R.sup.2各自独立地为氢原子或脂肪或环脂肪基,R.sup.3和R.sup.4各自独立地为氢原子,或酰基,脂肪,环脂肪,芳香或杂环基,但有条件的是R.sup.3和R.sup.4中的一个可以是
氨基或取代
氨基,或R.sup.3和R.sup.4中的一个是氢原子,另一个是有机磺酰基,或R.sup.3和R.sup.4与介于其间的氮原子一起形成氮杂环),可用作近红外吸收剂。Squarylium环上
氨基基团的存在使得通过对该基团进行修饰可以实现吸收波长的微小变化,并且还允许在不改变色团的情况下将功能基团并入
染料中。