Bisbenzimide (Hoechst 33342) is an

organic compound In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. The ...

used as a fluorescent stain for DNA in molecular biology applications. Several related chemical compounds are used for similar purposes and are collectively called

Hoechst stain Hoechst stains are part of a family of blue fluorescent dyes used to stain DNA. These bis-benzimides were originally developed by Hoechst AG, which numbered all their compounds so that the dye Hoechst 33342 is the 33,342nd compound made by the ...

Application

Bisbenzimide tends to bind to

adenine Adenine () ( symbol A or Ade) is a nucleobase (a purine derivative). It is one of the four nucleobases in the nucleic acid of DNA that are represented by the letters G–C–A–T. The three others are guanine, cytosine and thymine. Its derivati ...

–

thymine Thymine () ( symbol T or Thy) is one of the four nucleobases in the nucleic acid of DNA that are represented by the letters G–C–A–T. The others are adenine, guanine, and cytosine. Thymine is also known as 5-methyluracil, a pyrimidine nu ...

-rich regions of DNA and can decrease its density. Bisbenzimide mixed with DNA samples can then be used to separate DNA according to their AT percentage using a

cesium chloride Caesium chloride or cesium chloride is the inorganic compound with the formula Cs Cl. This colorless salt is an important source of caesium ions in a variety of niche applications. Its crystal structure forms a major structural type where each ...

(CsCl) gradient centrifugation.

References

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External links

* Fluorescence Spectra: http://www.fluorophores.tugraz.at/substance/463 DNA-binding substances Fluorescent dyes Benzimidazoles Piperazines