Alizarin

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 Alizarin Alizarin – 58000 Mordant red 11 Pigment red 83 Anthraquinone Acid Sparingly at boiling. Soluble in alkalis. 0.125% 601, 567 (Conn) 609, 567 (Aldrich) 533 (Gurr) – C14H8O4 240.2

Alizarin is found in the roots of the madder plant (Rubia tinctorum L.), and was used as a dye in ancient times in Egypt, Persia and India. It is only rarely used in microtechnique, although it has been suggested for demonstrating some metals, with which it forms coloured lakes.

 

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

Aldrich chemical catalogue, 1992
Aldrich Chemical Company, Milwaukee, WI, USA.

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

Susan Budavari, Editor, (1996)
The Merck Index, Ed. 12
Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA