Is Remazol Blue BB dye anionic or cationic, and what is the closest formula for this dye?

Name: Gizem

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Books about the
Chemistry of Dyes

Linda Knutson's
Synthetic Dyes for Natural Fibers

---

by Heinrich Zollinger

Color Chemistry: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications of Organic Dyes and Pigments

---

The Chemistry and Application of Dyes 

edited by David R. Waring

and Geoffrey Hallas

Country or region: Turkey

Message: Hello. I'm a masters student in Ankara University/Turkey. I'm working on biological dye treatment with "Remazol Blue BB (RB 220)" dye, but couldn't find much about this dye. I want to ask, is Remazol Blue BB dye anionic or cationic, and what is the closest formula for this dye?

Remazol Blue BB is a reactive dye. All fiber reactive dyes are anionic, since they have negative molecular charges. They are classified in two ways: by the reactive portions of the dye molecules, which determine how they are attached to the textile fiber, and by the chromophore portions of the dye molecules, whose chemical structures provide their colors. The reactive group for Remazol Blue BB, as indicated by its name, places it in the vinyl sulfone class, which was originally introduced by Hoechst under the brand name Remazol, while the chromophore places it in the group of copper formazans.

Remazol Blue BB appears to be widely available from dye manufacturers that are listed online, though not from smaller-scale retailers, with the generic name Colour Index reactive blue 220, and either one or the other of two CAS numbers, 128416-19-3 or 90341-71-2.

Remazol Blue BB is listed in two charts on my page, "About Vinyl Sulfone Fiber Reactive Dyes". Its chemical name is

cuprate(4-), [4,5-dihydro-4-[[8-hydroxy-7-[[2-hydroxy-5-methoxy-4-[[2- (sulfooxy)ethyl]sulfonyl]phenyl]azo]-6-sulfo-2-naphthalenyl]azo]-5-oxo-1-(4-sulfophenyl)-1H- pyrazole-3-carboxylato(6-)]-, sodium. 

A molecular formula for this dye that was supplied on the AliBaba website by Shijiazhuang He Dye Chem is C₂₂H₁₅CuN₄Na₂O₁₂S₃, with a molecular weight of 733.10; however, even at a glance, the number of sulfur atoms indicated by the chemical name is obviously greater than are included in this formula, and the same source also indicates that the dye is insoluble in water, which seems quite unlikely, both because that would severely limit its usefulness as a textile dye, and because the sulfonyl groups mentioned in the formula are used in order to allow a dye to be soluble in water.

The chromophore of Remazol Blue BB includes a copper formazan complex, as listed in the book "Industrial dyes: chemistry, properties, applications", by Klaus Hunger. Other formazan dyes listed there include Colour Index reactive green 15 and Colour Index reactive blues 70, 83, 84, 104, 157, 160, 182, 202, 209, 212, 216, 218, 221, 226, 235, 260, and 263. You will probably want to search the scientific literature for all references you can find to any of these related dyes. The structure of the copper formazan choromophore should be similar to the one given by Dr. Steve Mihok, on his page "Blue Dyes", for another copper formazan dye, reactive blue 163 (CIbacron Blue F-R), though the reactive portion, which is not shown, would be quite different, since reactive blue 163 is an aminofluorotriazine dye:

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Follow this blog on twitter here.
Tweet