Quirks of dye nomenclature. 11. Safranine and its relatives

Safranine was one of the earliest coal tar dyes following mauveine. By the end of the 19th century, many alkylated derivatives of safranine had been made. The history, identity, names, manufacture, analysis, toxicity, textile dyeing, and biological staining applications, plus some nonstaining uses of safranine, phenosafranine, methylene violet, amethyst violet, azocarmine, and Magdala red are described here.