Nile red
| Nile red | |
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9-diethylamino-5-benzo[α]phenoxazinone |
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Other names
Nile red, Nile blue oxazone |
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| Identifiers | |
| CAS number | 7385-67-3  |
| PubChem | 65182 |
| ChemSpider | 58681  |
| ChEBI | CHEBI:52169 |
| ChEMBL | CHEMBL144472 |
| Jmol-3D images | Image 1 |
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| Properties | |
| Molecular formula | C20H18N2O2 |
| Molar mass | 318.369 g/mol |
 (verify) (what is:  / ?)Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa) |
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| Infobox references | |
From left to right: 1. water, 2. methanol, 3. ethanol, 4. acetonitrile, 5. dimethylformamide, 6. acetone, 7. ethyl acetate, 8. dichloromethane, 9. n-hexane, 10. methyl-tert-butylether, 11. cyclohexane, 12. toluene.
Nile red (also known as Nile blue oxazone) is a lipophilic stain. It is produced by boiling a solution of Nile blue with sulfuric acid.[1] As can be seen from the structural formulae, this process replaces an amino group with a carbonyl group. Nile red stains intracellular lipid droplets red. In most polar solvents Nile Red will not fluoresce, however when in a lipid-rich environment can be intensely fluorescent, with varying colours from deep red to strong yellow-gold emission. Whilst it generally excites at 485 nm, and emits at 525 nm (552/636 nm in methanol), the fluorescence of the dye is heavily dependent on the solvent used, and in some cases does not fluoresce at all.[2]
Since the reaction to generate Nile red does not usually completely exhaust the supply of Nile blue, additional separation steps are required if pure Nile red is needed.
Nile red has applications in cell biology, where it can be used as a membrane dye which can be readily visualised using an epifluorescence microscope with excitation and emission wavelengths usually shared with RFP.
References [edit]
- ^ SD Fowler and P Greenspan (1985). "Application of Nile red, a fluorescent hydrophobic probe, for the detection of neutral lipid deposits in tissue sections: comparison with oil red O". Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry 33 (8): 833–836.
- ^ P Greenspan, E. P. Mayer and S. D. Fowler (1985). "Nile Red, A Selective Fluorescent Stain for Intracellular Lipid Droplets". Journal of Cell Biology 100 (1): 965–973.
