Like most other BODIPY® dyes, the long-wavelength BODIPY® 630/650 has narrow bandwidths, large extinction coefficients and good fluorescence quantum yields and relative long excited-state lifetimes (>3 nanoseconds). The amine-reactive BODIPY® 630/650 succinimidyl ester contains an additional seven-atom aminohexanoyl spacer (“X”) between the fluorophore and the succinimidyl ester group. This spacer helps to separate the fluorophore from its point of attachment, potentially reducing the interaction of the fluorophore with the biomolecule to which it is conjugated.