Methyl Blue

Methyl blue according to Conn

Methyl blue according to Gurr

Property	Data
Common name Suggested name Other names   C.I. number C.I. name Class Ionisation Solubility aqueous Solubility ethanol Absorption maximum   Colour Empirical formula Formula weight	Methyl blue Methyl blue Cotton blue Helvetia blue 42780 Acid blue 93 Triarylmethane Acid Soluble Slight 607 (Conn) 596 (Gurr) Blue C37H27N3O9S3Na2 799.8 (Conn) 698 (Gurr)

This dye and water blue are the constituents of aniline blue WS Any of the three will generally be found suitable for staining collagen in Masson's trichrome and Mallory's method for connective tissue. It is a constituent of Mann's methyl blue eosin method.

Note that Conn and Gurr give different structural formulae for this dye. It may well be that two different compounds are sold under this name. Note also that Gurr does not give CI numbers or names, and these data are reliable only for the Conn formula.

 

Reference
R. D. Lillie.
Conn's Biological Stains
Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, MD., U.S.A.

Edward Gurr, (1971)
Synthetic dyes in biology, medicine and chemistry
Academic Press, London, England.