Fluorescence imaging can be conducted with long Stokes shift dyes that minimize crosstalk between the excitation source and fluorescent emission to improve the signal-to-background ratio. Regardless, researchers still form simple, small molecule dyes with large Stokes shift and near infrared emissions. In a new report now published in Science Advances, Hao Chen and a team of scientists developed a series of styrene oxazolone dyes (SODs) using simple synthetic methods inspired by the chromophore chemical structure of fluorescent proteins.