Understanding The Properties, Limitations And Applications Of Basic Dye

Basic dyes belong to a category of dyes, which are usually synthetic in nature and basically from the family of aniline dyes. Since they are positively charged, they generally bind with the cytoplasm of all bacterial cells, which when reared in a medium with nearly neutral pH, tend to attain a slightly negative charge. Even though the color base of basic dye is not soluble in water, it can be made so by transforming the base color into a salt. The fact that basic dyes are cationic or positively charged is largely responsible for their great binding with materials that possess a negative charge.


Generally basic dyes are considered to be easy to use and can be utilized in a wide variety of dyeing and printing tasks. The fact that a basic dye provides high tinctorial strength and possesses moderate substantivity is significantly responsible for their immense popularity as dyeing agents. In addition, these dyes offer a wide range of shades to choose from and besides being extremely bright are also relatively economical. Another major reason for the immense popularity of these dyes is that they include some of the most exceptional synthetic dyes used in various industries.


However, despite the immense popularity and widespread usage of basic dyes, they suffer from certain drawbacks. The fact that these dyes provide poor shade stability and have a very poor lightfastness, makes them perfect for use only on specific materials. These dyes also have a high acidic content making them toxic enough to cause serious health and safety hazards if handled carelessly. Additionally, the dyes also suffer from the drawbacks of colored backwaters and preferential dyeing, which makes them unsuitable for use on most materials.


Basic dyes are extensively used in the textile industry for dyeing acrylic fibers. These dyes are also used for dyeing leather and in the coloration of paper. Additionally, basic dyes are a popular choice for use in hand-painting on acrylic fiber, mainly because they are bright in color and exhibit a washfast property, when used on acrylic. They are also used for permanent dying of containers, sinks, counters, floors, and wide range of other materials. However, they are not used by beginners and even a large number of experts refrain from using these dyes primarily because of their hazardous nature.

Learning About The Basic Properties Of Sodium Nitrite

Sodium nitrite is a stable, odorless compound having a molecular weight of 69.00. This sodium salt of nitrous acid is pale yellow or straw colored and is available in either the form of dry granules, flakes and even water solutions. The compound needs to be handled carefully while using, storing or even shipping it from one destination to another mainly because it is an oxidizer and toxic in nature.


Sodium Nitrite is generally produced for industrial use by making the oxides of nitrogen to get absorbed into sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide solutions. The sodium nitrite solution produced by this method is then concentrated to produce slurry of crystals acquired by using the conventional evaporation and crystallization equipments. To separate the crystals form the original liquid, the centrifugation technique is generally used. Once the crystals have been separated, they are dries and treated with an anti-caking agent to ensure that they remain in the free-flowing form. The other methods of producing the compound involve various chemical reactions carried out with the aim of reducing sodium nitrate to yield sodium nitrite.


In its pure form, anhydrous Sodium nitrite has a specific gravity of 2.168 at 0ºC/0°C. The melting point of the compound is 284°C while it starts to decompose when the temperature goes beyond 320°C, to release N2O2, NO, and Na2O. Within the temperature range of 158–165°C, the physical properties of sodium nitrite undergo a significant change. The compound, in addition to being water soluble, also possesses hygroscopic properties. Sodium nitrite displays a stable nature in alkaline solutions but when exposed to acidic solutions, the compound releases unstable nitrous acid. The compound serves as a primary source of nitrous acid, used for organic synthesis.


When exposed to atmospheric oxygen, sodium nitrite oxidizes spontaneously to form the brown-colored compound named nitrogen-dioxide. The compound can convert ammonium ion to nitrogen, urea to carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and sulfamate to sulfate and nitrogen which makes it a good oxidizing agent. This makes it perfect for use in various industries including manufacturing of dye, rubber chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as a corrosion inhibitor, in heat treating and heat-transfer salts, in meat curing, and several other applications.


Royce is a fully diversified international company which was founded in 1929 to manufacture chemicals for textile industry. Today more than 80 years later, they have a resounding presence across the world and offer solution to diverse needs of chemicals to their customers which also include sodium nitrite.