Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Qualitative Identification of Carboxylic Acids, Boronic Acids, and Amines Using Cruciform Fluorophores
Published on: August 19, 2013
Inaccurate chemical structures of dyes and fluorochromes found in the literature can be problematic for teaching and
1Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain. juancarlos.stockert@uam.es
Abstract:
Abstract Representations of the chemical structures of dyes and fluorochromes often are used to illustrate staining mechanisms and histochemical reactions. Unfortunately, inaccurate chemical structures sometimes are used, which results in problems for teaching and research in histochemistry. We comment here on published examples of inadequate chemical drawing and modeling. In particular, omission of hydrogen atoms can lead to misleading hydrogen-bonding interactions, and inaccurate drawing and modeling procedures result in a variety of implausible molecular structures. The examples and arguments given here are easily intelligible for non-chemists and could be used as part of a training approach to help avoid publication of misleading or puzzling dye structures and molecular models for illustrating biological staining and histochemical studies.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Variables Affecting Phosphorescence and Fluorescence
Fixation and Sectioning
The simplest type of preparation is the wet mount, in which the specimen is placed in a drop of liquid on the slide. A liquid specimen can be directly deposited on the slide using a dropper. Solid specimens, such as skin scraping, can be placed on the slide before adding a drop of liquid to prepare the wet mount. Sometimes the liquid is simply water, but stains are often added...
Two-Dimensional Microscopy in Microbiology
Aryldiazonium Salts to Azo Dyes: Diazo Coupling
Immunofluorescence Microscopy
The...

