diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/ast.ts b/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/ast.ts
index f3a382bd4f..071506ab2c 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/ast.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/ast.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,27 @@ export class AST {
   toString(): string { return "AST"; }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Represents a quoted expression of the form:
+ *
+ * quote = prefix `:` uninterpretedExpression
+ * prefix = identifier
+ * uninterpretedExpression = arbitrary string
+ *
+ * A quoted expression is meant to be pre-processed by an AST transformer that
+ * converts it into another AST that no longer contains quoted expressions.
+ * It is meant to allow third-party developers to extend Angular template
+ * expression language. The `uninterpretedExpression` part of the quote is
+ * therefore not interpreted by the Angular's own expression parser.
+ */
+export class Quote extends AST {
+  constructor(public prefix: string, public uninterpretedExpression: string, public location: any) {
+    super();
+  }
+  visit(visitor: AstVisitor): any { return visitor.visitQuote(this); }
+  toString(): string { return "Quote"; }
+}
+
 export class EmptyExpr extends AST {
   visit(visitor: AstVisitor) {
     // do nothing
@@ -138,6 +159,7 @@ export interface AstVisitor {
   visitPrefixNot(ast: PrefixNot): any;
   visitPropertyRead(ast: PropertyRead): any;
   visitPropertyWrite(ast: PropertyWrite): any;
+  visitQuote(ast: Quote): any;
   visitSafeMethodCall(ast: SafeMethodCall): any;
   visitSafePropertyRead(ast: SafePropertyRead): any;
 }
@@ -210,6 +232,7 @@ export class RecursiveAstVisitor implements AstVisitor {
     asts.forEach(ast => ast.visit(this));
     return null;
   }
+  visitQuote(ast: Quote): any { return null; }
 }
 
 export class AstTransformer implements AstVisitor {
@@ -285,4 +308,8 @@ export class AstTransformer implements AstVisitor {
   }
 
   visitChain(ast: Chain): AST { return new Chain(this.visitAll(ast.expressions)); }
+
+  visitQuote(ast: Quote): AST {
+    return new Quote(ast.prefix, ast.uninterpretedExpression, ast.location);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/parser.ts b/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/parser.ts
index f82015e6b7..80fe041176 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/parser.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/parser.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ import {
   FunctionCall,
   TemplateBinding,
   ASTWithSource,
-  AstVisitor
+  AstVisitor,
+  Quote
 } from './ast';
 
 
@@ -73,17 +74,46 @@ export class Parser {
   }
 
   parseBinding(input: string, location: any): ASTWithSource {
-    this._checkNoInterpolation(input, location);
-    var tokens = this._lexer.tokenize(input);
-    var ast = new _ParseAST(input, location, tokens, this._reflector, false).parseChain();
+    var ast = this._parseBindingAst(input, location);
     return new ASTWithSource(ast, input, location);
   }
 
   parseSimpleBinding(input: string, location: string): ASTWithSource {
+    var ast = this._parseBindingAst(input, location);
+    if (!SimpleExpressionChecker.check(ast)) {
+      throw new ParseException(
+          'Host binding expression can only contain field access and constants', input, location);
+    }
+    return new ASTWithSource(ast, input, location);
+  }
+
+  private _parseBindingAst(input: string, location: string): AST {
+    // Quotes expressions use 3rd-party expression language. We don't want to use
+    // our lexer or parser for that, so we check for that ahead of time.
+    var quote = this._parseQuote(input, location);
+
+    if (isPresent(quote)) {
+      return quote;
+    }
+
     this._checkNoInterpolation(input, location);
     var tokens = this._lexer.tokenize(input);
-    var ast = new _ParseAST(input, location, tokens, this._reflector, false).parseSimpleBinding();
-    return new ASTWithSource(ast, input, location);
+    return new _ParseAST(input, location, tokens, this._reflector, false).parseChain();
+  }
+
+  private _parseQuote(input: string, location: any): AST {
+    if (isBlank(input)) return null;
+    var prefixSeparatorIndex = input.indexOf(':');
+    if (prefixSeparatorIndex == -1) return null;
+    var prefix = input.substring(0, prefixSeparatorIndex);
+    var uninterpretedExpression = input.substring(prefixSeparatorIndex + 1);
+
+    // while we do not interpret the expression, we do interpret the prefix
+    var prefixTokens = this._lexer.tokenize(prefix);
+
+    // quote prefix must be a single legal identifier
+    if (prefixTokens.length != 1 || !prefixTokens[0].isIdentifier()) return null;
+    return new Quote(prefixTokens[0].strValue, uninterpretedExpression, location);
   }
 
   parseTemplateBindings(input: string, location: any): TemplateBinding[] {
@@ -216,14 +246,6 @@ export class _ParseAST {
     return n.toString();
   }
 
-  parseSimpleBinding(): AST {
-    var ast = this.parseChain();
-    if (!SimpleExpressionChecker.check(ast)) {
-      this.error(`Simple binding expression can only contain field access and constants'`);
-    }
-    return ast;
-  }
-
   parseChain(): AST {
     var exprs = [];
     while (this.index < this.tokens.length) {
@@ -664,4 +686,6 @@ class SimpleExpressionChecker implements AstVisitor {
   }
 
   visitChain(ast: Chain) { this.simple = false; }
+
+  visitQuote(ast: Quote) { this.simple = false; }
 }
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/proto_change_detector.ts b/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/proto_change_detector.ts
index e535317272..c25cc54867 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/proto_change_detector.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/core/change_detection/proto_change_detector.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import {
   LiteralPrimitive,
   MethodCall,
   PrefixNot,
+  Quote,
   SafePropertyRead,
   SafeMethodCall
 } from './parser/ast';
@@ -291,6 +292,12 @@ class _ConvertAstIntoProtoRecords implements AstVisitor {
     return this._addRecord(RecordType.Chain, "chain", null, args, null, 0);
   }
 
+  visitQuote(ast: Quote): void {
+    throw new BaseException(
+        `Caught uninterpreted expression at ${ast.location}: ${ast.uninterpretedExpression}. ` +
+        `Expression prefix ${ast.prefix} did not match a template transformer to interpret the expression.`);
+  }
+
   private _visitAll(asts: any[]) {
     var res = ListWrapper.createFixedSize(asts.length);
     for (var i = 0; i < asts.length; ++i) {
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/core/change_detection/parser/parser_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/core/change_detection/parser/parser_spec.ts
index 2893d45458..06af623177 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/core/change_detection/parser/parser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/core/change_detection/parser/parser_spec.ts
@@ -230,6 +230,15 @@ export function main() {
           expectBindingError('"Foo"|1234').toThrowError(new RegExp('identifier or keyword'));
           expectBindingError('"Foo"|"uppercase"').toThrowError(new RegExp('identifier or keyword'));
         });
+
+        it('should parse quoted expressions', () => { checkBinding('a:b', 'a:b'); });
+
+        it('should ignore whitespace around quote prefix', () => { checkBinding(' a :b', 'a:b'); });
+
+        it('should refuse prefixes that are not single identifiers', () => {
+          expectBindingError('a + b:c').toThrowError();
+          expectBindingError('1:c').toThrowError();
+        });
       });
 
       it('should store the source in the result',
@@ -414,7 +423,7 @@ export function main() {
       it("should throw when the given expression is not just a field name", () => {
         expect(() => parseSimpleBinding("name + 1"))
             .toThrowErrorWith(
-                'Simple binding expression can only contain field access and constants');
+                'Host binding expression can only contain field access and constants');
       });
 
       it('should throw when encountering interpolation', () => {
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/core/change_detection/parser/unparser.ts b/modules/angular2/test/core/change_detection/parser/unparser.ts
index 0260eedbaa..2ea8ab9133 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/core/change_detection/parser/unparser.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/core/change_detection/parser/unparser.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import {
   LiteralPrimitive,
   MethodCall,
   PrefixNot,
+  Quote,
   SafePropertyRead,
   SafeMethodCall
 } from 'angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/ast';
@@ -187,5 +188,7 @@ export class Unparser implements AstVisitor {
     this._expression += ')';
   }
 
+  visitQuote(ast: Quote) { this._expression += `${ast.prefix}:${ast.uninterpretedExpression}`; }
+
   private _visit(ast: AST) { ast.visit(this); }
 }