According to the Colour Index (CD-ROM Version 2, 1996) there
   are two manufacturers of alcian blue (CI 74240; Ingrain blue 1),
   both in India and each with its own trade-name. The
   products are:

                Arlcyne blue 8GN  (evidently a pun on ICI's name!)
                  from  Arlabs Ltd,
                        6 Malhotra House, 2nd Floor,
                        Opp GPO, Bombay 400 001
                          (Fax: 91 261 3234)

                Icho blue TG-40
                  from  Indian Chemical Industries,
                        Bhvani Chambers,
                        Ashram Road,
                        Ahmedabad 380 009
                          (Fax: 91 79 409889)

  So if a vendor wants to stock up, its just a matter of a couple
  of faxes to get competitive quotes. The stuff would need to be
  tested too, of course, because it might not be exactly the same
  as the original ICI product.

  A dye closely similar to alcian blue is the alcian blue pyridine
  variant (from Sigma and Aldrich). Another is Scott's "alcec blue"
  (a trademark of Hoechst, according to F.Green's Sigma-Aldrich
  Handbook of Stains, Dyes and Indicators, 1990 p. 69). Alcec
  blue isn't sold by Aldrich; I don't have a catalogue of Hoechst
  products. Both these alternatives are supposedly a bit better
  than the original alcian blue, being stable over a wider pH
  range. They are also compounds of known and published chemical
  composition, so they can be used for research, diagnosis and
  other serious purposes where there is no place for "proprietary"
  secret brews and potions.
                             John Kiernan
                             London, Canada.
 ________________________________

On Tue, 9 Nov 1999, Mark & Carrie Byrne wrote:

> after seeing much discussion on histonet about the alcian blue situation, i
> decided to contact a recognized authority myself.  i spoke with Charles
> Willis (he runs the assay lab for the Biological Stain Commission) today and
> this is the information he has:
> several years ago, the company (ICI, in England) who held the patent for
> manufacturing alcian blue stopped processing it due to a toxic intermediate
> step (as Jim indicated).  the remainder of the supply was purchased from
> them by Dudley Chemical, who has been supplying (directly or indirectly)
> various distributors.  Their supply is indeed limited and they currently
> have no new supplier for the dye.  this is not to say that there isn't a
> company in say, china or india, who does make it or who would be willing to
> make it.  it's just that at this time, Dudley Chemicals is not aware of
> another manufacturer.
> hope this helps to clear things a bit....
>
> carrie kyle-byrne
 ________________________________

 John A. Kiernan,
 Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology,
 The University of Western Ontario,
 LONDON,  Canada  N6A 5C1
   E-mail: kiernan@uwo.ca