Fuchsine (sometimes spelled fuchsin) or rosaniline hydrochloride is a

magenta Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish- red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blu ...

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and ...

with

chemical formula In chemistry, a chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, ...

C₂₀H₁₉N₃·HCl."Basic chemical data"
''Discovery Series'' online database, Developmental Therapeutics Program, U.S. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved on 2007-10-08. 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 (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

; as a

solid Solid is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid, gas, and plasma). The molecules in a solid are closely packed together and contain the least amount of kinetic energy. A solid is characterized by structur ...

, it forms dark

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macro ...

s. As well as dying

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...

s, fuchsine is used to

stain A stain is a discoloration that can be clearly distinguished from the surface, material, or medium it is found upon. They are caused by the chemical or physical interaction of two dissimilar materials. Accidental staining may make materials ap ...

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...

and sometimes as a

disinfectant A disinfectant is a chemical substance or compound used to inactivate or destroy microorganisms on inert surfaces. Disinfection does not necessarily kill all microorganisms, especially resistant bacterial spores; it is less effective than s ...

. In the literature of biological stains the name of this dye is frequently misspelled, with omission of the terminal -e, which indicates an

amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are compounds and functional groups that contain a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are formally derivatives of ammonia (), wherein one or more hydrogen atoms have been replaced by a substituent ...

. American and English dictionaries (Webster's, Oxford, Chambers, etc.) give the correct spelling, which is also used in the literature of industrial dyeing. It is well established that production of fuchsine results in development of bladder cancers by production workers. Production of magenta is listed as a circumstance known to result in cancer.

History

Fuchsine was first created by Jakub Natanson in 1856 from

aniline Aniline is an organic compound with the formula C6 H5 NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the simplest aromatic amine. It is an industrially significant commodity chemical, as well as a versatile starti ...

and

1,2-Dichloroethane The chemical compound 1,2-dichloroethane, commonly known as ethylene dichloride (EDC), is a chlorinated hydrocarbon. It is a colourless liquid with a chloroform-like odour. The most common use of 1,2-dichloroethane is in the production of vin ...

. In 1858

August Wilhelm von Hofmann August Wilhelm von Hofmann (8 April 18185 May 1892) was a German chemist who made considerable contributions to organic chemistry. His research on aniline helped lay the basis of the aniline-dye industry, and his research on coal tar laid the g ...

obtained it from

and

carbon tetrachloride Carbon tetrachloride, also known by many other names (such as tetrachloromethane, also recognised by the IUPAC, carbon tet in the cleaning industry, Halon-104 in firefighting, and Refrigerant-10 in HVACR) is an organic compound with the chemi ...

. discovered the substance independently of Hofmann the same year and patented it. Fuchsine was 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'' () is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first to be scientifically described, '' Fuchsia triphylla'', was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic ...

'',(2004.
"Fuchsin"
''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition,''

Houghton Mifflin Company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Boston Fina ...

, via dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-20 named in honor of botanist

Leonhart Fuchs Leonhart Fuchs (; 17 January 1501 – 10 May 1566), sometimes spelled Leonhard Fuchs and cited in Latin as ''Leonhartus Fuchsius'', was a German physician and botanist. His chief notability is as the author of a large book about plants and th ...

, 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 fuchsine, modified by addition of sulfonic 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, new fuchsine and Magenta II. Formulations usable for making of

Schiff reagent : The Schiff test is an early organic chemistry named reaction developed by Hugo Schiff, and is a relatively general chemical test for detection of many organic aldehydes that has also found use in the staining of biological tissues. The Schiff ...

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 (also called carbolic acid) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile. The molecule consists of a phenyl group () bonded to a hydroxy group (). Mildly acidic, it r ...

(also called carbolic acid) as an accentuator it is called

carbol fuchsin Carbol fuchsin, carbol-fuchsin, carbolfuchsin, or Castellani's paint (CAS ) is a mixture of phenol and basic fuchsin that is used in bacterial staining procedures. It is commonly used in the staining of mycobacteria because it has an affinity fo ...

and is used for the Ziehl–Neelsen and other similar

acid-fast Acid-fastness is a physical property of certain bacterial and eukaryotic cells, as well as some sub-cellular structures, specifically their resistance to decolorization by acids during laboratory staining procedures. Once stained as part of a sam ...

staining of the

mycobacteria ''Mycobacterium'' is a genus of over 190 species in the phylum Actinomycetota, assigned its own family, Mycobacteriaceae. This genus includes pathogens known to cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis ('' M. tuberculosis'') and ...

which cause

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria '' Mycobacterium leprae'' or '' Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve d ...

etc.Clark G 1973 ''Staining Procedures Used by the

Biological Stain Commission The Biological Stain Commission (BSC) is an organization that provides third-party testing and certification of dyes and a few other compounds that are used to enhance contrast in specimens examined in biological and medical laboratories. The BSC ...

'', 3rd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, pp. 252–254 Basic fuchsine is widely used in biology to stain the

nucleus Nucleus ( : nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: * Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucl ...

, and is also a component of Lactofuchsin, used for Lactofuchsin mounting.

Properties

The crystals pictured at the right are of basic fuchsine, also known as basic violet 14, basic red 9, pararosanaline or CI 42500. Their structure differs from the structure shown above by the absence of the

methyl group In organic chemistry, a methyl group is an alkyl derived from methane, containing one carbon atom bonded to three hydrogen atoms, having chemical formula . In formulas, the group is often abbreviated as Me. This hydrocarbon group occurs in ma ...

on the upper ring, otherwise they are quite similar. They are soft, with a

hardness In materials science, hardness (antonym: softness) is a measure of the resistance to localized plastic deformation induced by either mechanical indentation or abrasion. In general, different materials differ in their hardness; for example hard ...

of less than 1, about the same as or less than talc. They possess a strong metallic lustre and a green yellow color. They leave dark greenish streaks on paper and when these are moistened with a solvent, the strong magenta colour appears.

Chemical structure

Fuchsine is an amine salt and has three amine groups, two primary amines and a

secondary amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are compounds and functional groups that contain a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are formally derivatives of ammonia (), wherein one or more hydrogen atoms have been replaced by a substituent such ...

. If one of these is protonated to form ABCNH⁺, the positive charge is delocalized across the whole symmetrical molecule due to pi cloud electron movement. The positive charge can be thought of as residing on the central carbon atom and all three "wings" becoming identical aromatic rings terminated by a primary amine group. Other

resonance Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscil ...

structures can be conceived, where the positive charge "moves" from one amine group to the next, or one third of the positive charge resides on each amine group. The ability of fuchsine to be protonated by a stronger acid gives it its

basic BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...

property. The positive charge is neutralized by the negative charge on the chloride ion. The positive "basic fuchsinium ions" and negative chloride ions stack to form the salt "crystals" depicted above.

History

Acid fuchsine

Basic fuchsine

Properties

Chemical structure

See also

References

Further reading