Name for the
molecule or part of a molecule that can undergo an
electronic transition to an
excited state upon collision with an incident
photon and then emit another photon, i.e. a
fluorescent molecule. This is more specific than a
chromophore, which simply
absorbs light of specific frequencies without any condition on what it does in the excited state. That is to say:
A fluorophore is always a chromophore, but a chromophore isn't always a fluorophore..