Styrene monomers, possessing three kinds of protected quinizarin (Qz) dye precursors such as tBOC, acetyl and tosyl groups, have been prepared and copolymerized with MMA in high yields to obtain protected-Qz precursor polymers (pr-QzP). Thermal and photoinduced acidolytic deprotection behaviors were investigated to confirm the regeneration of the Qz moieties in the polymer films by thermal and spectral analyses. Lithographic fluorescent photoimaging on spin-cast films of pr-QzP containing a photo-acid generator resulted in high resolution and sensitivity by a dry process based on chemical amplification. In the dry lithography process, finely resolved sub-0.4-micrometer fluorescent patterns were delineated on the thin precursor polymer films without using a developer. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.