Methyl violet is a family of

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. T ...

s that are mainly used as dyes. Depending on the number of attached methyl groups, the color of the dye can be altered. Its main use is as a purple dye for textiles and to give deep violet colors in paint and ink, it is also used as a hydration indicator for

silica gel Silica gel is an amorphous and porous form of silicon dioxide (silica), consisting of an irregular tridimensional framework of alternating silicon and oxygen atoms with nanometer-scale voids and pores. The voids may contain water or some other l ...

. Methyl violet 10B is also known as

crystal violet Crystal violet or gentian violet, also known as methyl violet 10B or hexamethyl pararosaniline chloride, is a triarylmethane dye used as a histological stain and in Gram's method of classifying bacteria. Crystal violet has antibacterial, antif ...

(and many other names) and has medical uses.

Structure

The term methyl violet encompasses three compounds that differ in the number of methyl groups attached to the

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 Hydrogen is the chemical element wi ...

functional group In organic chemistry, a functional group is a substituent or moiety in a molecule that causes the molecule's characteristic chemical reactions. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reactions regardless of the re ...

. They are all soluble in

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...

diethylene glycol Diethylene glycol (DEG) is an organic compound with the formula (HOCH2CH2)2O. It is a colorless, practically odorless, and hygroscopic liquid with a sweetish taste. It is a four carbon dimer of ethylene glycol. It is miscible in water, alcohol, ...

and

dipropylene glycol Dipropylene glycol is a mixture of three isomeric chemical compounds, 4-oxa-2,6-heptandiol, 2-(2-hydroxy-propoxy)-propan-1-ol, and 2-(2-hydroxy-1-methyl-ethoxy)-propan-1-ol. It is a colorless, nearly odorless liquid with a high boiling point and ...

Methyl violet 2B

Methyl violet 2B (IUPAC name: ''N''-(4-(bis(4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)methylene)cyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-ylidene)methanaminium chloride) is a green powder which is soluble in water and ethanol but not in xylene. It appears yellow in solution of low pH (~0.15) and changes to violet with pH increasing toward 3.2.

Methyl violet 10B

Methyl violet 10B has six methyl groups. It is known in medicine as

Gentian violet Crystal violet or gentian violet, also known as methyl violet 10B or hexamethyl pararosaniline chloride, is a triarylmethane dye used as a histological stain and in Gram's method of classifying bacteria. Crystal violet has antibacterial, antif ...

(or crystal violet or pyoctanin(e)) and is the active ingredient in a

Gram stain In microbiology and bacteriology, Gram stain (Gram staining or Gram's method), is a method of staining used to classify bacterial species into two large groups: gram-positive bacteria and gram-negative bacteria. The name comes from the Danish b ...

, used to classify bacteria. It is used as a

pH indicator A pH indicator is a halochromic chemical compound added in small amounts to a solution so the pH (acidity or basicity) of the solution can be determined visually or spectroscopically by changes in absorption and/or emission properties. Hence, ...

, with a range between 0 and 1.6. The protonated form (found in acidic conditions) is yellow, turning blue-violet above pH levels of 1.6. Methyl violet 10B inhibits the growth of many

Gram positive In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. Gram-positive bact ...

bacteria, except streptococci. When used in conjunction with

nalidixic acid Nalidixic acid (tradenames Nevigramon, NegGram, Wintomylon and WIN 18,320) is the first of the synthetic quinolone antibiotics. In a technical sense, it is a naphthyridone, not a quinolone: its ring structure is a 1,8-naphthyridine nucleus that ...

(which destroys gram-negative bacteria), it can be used to isolate the streptococci bacteria for the diagnosis of an infection.

Degradation

Methyl violet is a mutagen and mitotic poison, therefore concerns exist regarding the ecological impact of the release of methyl violet into the environment. Methyl violet has been used in vast quantities for textile and paper dyeing, and 15% of such dyes produced worldwide are released to environment in wastewater. Numerous methods have been developed to treat methyl violet pollution. The three most prominent are chemical bleaching, biodegradation, and

photodegradation Photodegradation is the alteration of materials by light. Commonly, the term is used loosely to refer to the combined action of sunlight and air, which cause oxidation and hydrolysis. Often photodegradation is intentionally avoided, since it destro ...

Chemical bleaching

Chemical bleaching is achieved by

oxidation Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a ...

or reduction. Oxidation can destroy the dye completely, e.g. through the use of

sodium hypochlorite Sodium hypochlorite (commonly known in a dilute solution as bleach) is an inorganic chemical compound with the formula NaOCl (or NaClO), comprising a sodium cation () and a hypochlorite anion (or ). It may also be viewed as the sodium s ...

(NaClO, common bleach) or

hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution (3%� ...

. Reduction of methyl violet occurs in microorganisms but can be attained chemically using

sodium dithionite Sodium dithionite (also known as sodium hydrosulfite) is a white crystalline powder with a sulfurous odor. Although it is stable in dry air, it decomposes in hot water and in acid solutions. Structure The structure has been examined by Raman s ...

Biodegradation

Biodegradation has been well investigated because of its relevance to sewage plants with specialized microorganisms. Two microorganisms that have been studied in depth are the ''

white rot A wood-decay or xylophagous fungus is any species of fungus that digests moist wood, causing it to rot. Some species of wood-decay fungi attack dead wood, such as brown rot, and some, such as ''Armillaria'' (honey fungus), are parasitic and col ...

fungus'' and the bacterium '' Nocardia Corallina''.

Photodegradation

Light alone does not rapidly degrade methyl violet, but the process is accelerated upon the addition of large band-gap semiconductors, TiO₂ or ZnO.

Other methods

Many other methods have been developed to treat the contamination of dyes in a solution, including electrochemical degradation, ion exchange, laser degradation, and absorption onto various solids such as activated charcoal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Methyl Violet Triarylmethane dyes Disinfectants PH indicators Staining dyes Anilines Chlorides Dimethylamino compounds