> From: J. A. Kiernan [mailto:jkiernan@julian.uwo.ca]
> Sent: Monday, August 28, 2000 7:52 AM
> To: Smith, Allen
> Cc: Histonet
> Subject: Re: brazilin
>
> On Sun, 27 Aug 2000, Smith, Allen wrote:
>
> > I used to use brazilin, but I have been unable to find it lately.  Where
> can I buy it?
>
>    Dear Allen,  Your question may be of wider interest, so I'm
>    forwarding the answer to HistoNet, in the hope that someone
>    knows a less expensive supplier. I could find Brazilin in only
>    two catalogues. Details below.
>
>    I like alum-brazilin as a red nuclear stain, but the dyestuff
>    has become ridiculously expensive in the last 10 years or so.
>    I've still got a bit left over from the 1970s when its price
>    wasn't in any way remarkable.
>
>    Brazilin. CI 74280  Natural red 24
>    ICN Biomedicals Inc. Cat # 154862  US$58 for 1 gm.
>    VWR Canlab Rare & Fine Chemicals. Cat # 205613  US$1776.50 for 10 gm.
>      (VWR say they can supply smaller amounts!)
>    The 2nd of these catalogues is more recent (2000). It seems
>    to be an ICN catalog in a VWR wrapper.
>
>    Brazilwood chips can be bought for back-to-nature home dyeing.
>    Brazilin is obtained by evaporating an alcoholic extract, in
>    just the same way that haematoxylin is made from logwood.
>    Sounds easy if you have the time; I've never tried it myself.
>
>    Some years ago a Histonetter in Australia reported having
>    made some workable haematoxylin out of home-grown logwood,
>    and there was other correspondence about this and brazilin
>    around the same time. It should be in the Archives.
>
>  John A. Kiernan,
>  Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology,
>  The University of Western Ontario,
>  LONDON,  Canada  N6A 5C1

Dear List:

    On the subject of red nuclear stains, I have found "Scarba Red" (Slidders et
al., J. Path. Bacteriol. 75:476-478, 1958) to be relatively easy to make and
use. It is a much brighter color, a red-orange, than the nuclear fast red I have
used. Certainly cheaper than Brazilin.

Geoff
--
**********************************************
Geoff McAuliffe, Ph.D.
Neuroscience and Cell Biology
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854
voice: (732)-235-4583; fax: -4029
mcauliff@umdnj.edu
**********************************************