Fuchsine
Encyclopedia
Fuchsine or rosaniline hydrochloride is a magenta
Magenta
Magenta is a color evoked by light stronger in blue and red wavelengths than in yellowish-green wavelengths . In light experiments, magenta can be produced by removing the lime-green wavelengths from white light...

 dye
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....

 with chemical formula
Chemical formula
A chemical formula or molecular formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound....

 C20H19N3·HCl. There are other similar chemical formulations of products sold as fuchsine, and several dozen other synonyms of this molecule.

It becomes magenta when dissolved in water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

; as a solid
Solid
Solid is one of the three classical states of matter . It is characterized by structural rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume. Unlike a liquid, a solid object does not flow to take on the shape of its container, nor does it expand to fill the entire volume available to it like a...

, it forms dark green crystal
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...

s. As well as dying textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

s, fuchsine is used to stain
Staining (biology)
Staining is an auxiliary technique used in microscopy to enhance contrast in the microscopic image. Stains and dyes are frequently used in biology and medicine to highlight structures in biological tissues for viewing, often with the aid of different microscopes...

 bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

 and sometimes as a disinfectant. In the literature of biological stains the name of this dye is frequently misspelled, with omission of the terminal e, which indicates an amine American and English dictionaries (Webster's, Oxford, Chambers etc.) give the correct spelling, which is also used in the literature of industrial dyeing.

History

Fuchsine, named by its original manufacturer Renard frères et Franc, is usually cited with one of two etymologies: from the color of the flowers of the plant genus Fuchsia
Fuchsia
Fuchsia is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first, Fuchsia triphylla, was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1703 by the French Minim monk and botanist, Charles Plumier...

, named in honor of botanist Leonhart Fuchs
Leonhart Fuchs
Leonhart Fuchs , sometimes spelled Leonhard Fuchs, was a German physician and one of the three founding fathers of botany, along with Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock .-Biography:...

, or as the German translation Fuchs of the French name Renard, which means fox. An 1861 article in Répertoire de Pharmacie said that the name was chosen for both reasons.

Acid fuchsine

Acid fuchsine is a mixture of homologues of basic fuchsin, modified by addition of sulfonic
Sulfonic acid
Sulfonic acid usually refers to a member of the class of organosulfur compounds with the general formula RS2–OH, where R is an alkyl or aryl. The formal part of acid, HS2–OH, are formally derivatives of the "parent" inorganic compound with the formula HSO2.-Preparation:Sulfonic acid is...

 groups. While this yields twelve possible isomers, all of them are satisfactory despite slight differences in their properties.

Basic fuchsine

Basic fuchsine is a mixture of rosaniline, pararosaniline
Pararosaniline
Pararosaniline, Basic Red 9, or C.I. 42500 is a magenta dye having chemical formula 19183. It is one of the four components of basic fuchsine. Pararosaniline, which is sold as a single dye, may make the best Schiff's reagent...

, new fuchsine
New fuchsine
New fuchsine, new fuchsin, Magenta III, Basic Violet 2, or C.I. 42520 is a magenta dye having chemical formula 22243. It is one of the four components of basic fuchsine, and one of the two that are available as single dyes. New fuchsine can be used for staining acid fast organism, e.g...

 and Magenta II. Formulations usable for making of Schiff reagent must have high content of pararosanilin. The actual composition of basic fuchsine tends to somewhat vary by vendor and batch, making the batches differently suitable for different purposes.

In solution with phenol
Phenol
Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, phenic acid, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5OH. It is a white crystalline solid. The molecule consists of a phenyl , bonded to a hydroxyl group. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to many materials and useful compounds...

 as an accentuator it is called carbol fuchsin and is used for the staining of the bacterium which causes tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

.. Basic fuchsine is widely used in biology to stain the nucleus.

See also

  • New fuchsine
    New fuchsine
    New fuchsine, new fuchsin, Magenta III, Basic Violet 2, or C.I. 42520 is a magenta dye having chemical formula 22243. It is one of the four components of basic fuchsine, and one of the two that are available as single dyes. New fuchsine can be used for staining acid fast organism, e.g...

     and Fuchsine acid
    Fuchsine acid
    Fuchsine acid is an acidic magenta dye with chemical formula C20H17N3Na2O9S3....

     are related dyes
  • Fuchsine is a component in the Schiff test
    Schiff test
    The Schiff test invented and named after Hugo Schiff is a chemical test for the detection of aldehydes. An unknown sample is added to the decolorized Schiff reagent and when aldehyde is present a characteristic magenta or purple color develops. The Schiff reagent is the reaction product of...

  • Fuchsine is now often used in the Gram stain procedure in microbiology
    Microbiology
    Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...

    .
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK