Gram’s safranin solution, also known as Safranin T or Basic Red 2, is a ready-to-use staining solution that comprises 10% safranin in ethanol. Safranin is a basic, cationic, azine dye containing a planar, diaminophenazine chromophore, with a phenyl substituent attached to a ring nitrogen. The trimethyl cationic form of safranine is lipophilic, whereas the dimethyl forms are weakly hydrophilic. It is most notably used in bacteriology as a counterstain in Gram staining to differentiate between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.
Ready-to-use solution
Modified and designed in such a way that staining can be carried out in staining cells, on the staining rack, and in automated staining systems
Gram’s safranin solution has been used in the following applications:
as a non-toxic replacement for crystal violet for the quantification of biofilm formation
to develop a hyaluronic acid visualisation method
to study improved β-lactam susceptibility against biofilm-embedded staphylococcus aureus by 2-aminothiazole