Patent ID: 8491993

Claim:
A thermal lithographic printing plate overcoat composition comprising: (a) a water-soluble polymeric dye having an absorption peak within a range between about 300 and about 600 nm; and (b) micro-particles or nano-particles, wherein the overcoat composition is transparent to near infrared radiation and wherein said polymeric dye is of formula: wherein a and c independently vary between about 0.05 and about 0.95; b varies between about 0.00 and about 0.50; d varies between about 0.02 and about 0.20, R represents hydrogen or methyl; R1 represents hydrogen, hydroxy, alkoxy, alkyl, halide, or carboxylic acid; M represents carboxylic acid, 1-imidazole, 2-pyrrolidone, a polyethylene oxide chain, sulfonic acid or phosphoric acid; and Q 1 , Q 2 , Q 3 and Q 4 are the same or different and represent a chromophore having said absorption peak.