methylene blue

methylene blue
Chem., Pharm.
a dark-green, crystalline compound, C16H18ClN3S, that dissolves in water to form a deep-blue solution: used chiefly as a dye, as a bacteriological and biological stain, and as an antidote for cyanide poisoning. Also called methylthionine chloride.
[1885-90]

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      a bright greenish blue organic dye belonging to the phenothiazine family. It is mainly used on bast (soft vegetable fibres such as jute, flax, and hemp) and to a lesser extent on paper, leather, and mordanted cotton. It dyes silk and wool but has very poor lightfastness on these fibres. It is also employed as a biological stain, in testing milk for tubercular infection, and as a chemical oxidation–reduction indicator.

      Methylene blue was discovered in 1876 and is manufactured by a process, introduced about 1886, using dimethylaniline as the principal starting material.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • methylene blue — n. a bluish green aniline dye, C16H18N3ClS·3H2O, used as a bacteriologic stain, an antidote in cyanide poisoning, etc …   English World dictionary

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  • methylene blue — meth′ylene blue′ n. pha chem. a dark green, crystalline compound, C16H18ClN3that dissolves in water to form a deep blue solution: used chiefly as a dye, as a biological stain, and as an antidote for cyanide poisoning …   From formal English to slang

  • methylene blue — a blue dye used to stain bacterial cells for microscopic examination …   The new mediacal dictionary

  • methylene blue — noun Date: circa 1890 a basic thiazine dye C16H18ClN3S•3H2O used especially as a biological stain, an antidote in cyanide poisoning, and an oxidation reduction indicator …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • methylene blue — a dye (3,7 bis (Dimethylamino) phenazathionioum chloride) used against external bacteria and protozoans on fish …   Dictionary of ichthyology

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