9744. Triphenyltetrazolium Chloride

Nomenclature

CAS number: 298-96-4
2,3,5-Triphenyl-2H-tetrazolium chloride; red tetrazolium; TPTZ; TTC; RT; VitaStain (Arapahoe).
C19H15ClN4; mol wt 334.80.
C 68.16%, H 4.52%, Cl 10.59%, N 16.73%.

Description and references

Prepn: H. v. Pechmann, P. Runge, Ber. 27, 2920 (1894); Atkinson et al., Science 111, 385 (1950); R. Kuhn, D. Jerchel, Ber. 74, 945 (1941); R. Price, J. Chem. Soc. A 1971, 3379. Review of prepn and use of tetrazolium salts as indicators in biochemical and biological oxidation-reduction processes: W. Ried, Angew. Chem. 14, 391 (1952).

Chemical structure

Properties

Solvated nearly colorless needles from alcohol or chloroform, dry at 105°. Turns yellow on exposure to light. Dec 243°. Sol in water, alcohol, acetone. Insol in ether. Oxidizes aldoses and ketoses, as well as other α-ketols, and is thereby reduced to a water-insoluble, deep red pigment, a triphenylformazan.

Use

In analytical chemistry as a sensitive reagent for reducing sugars, and to distinguish between α-ketols and simple aldehydes. For staining plant and animal tissue. Germination indicator in testing the ability of seeds to germinate: G. Lakon, Ber. Dtsch. Bot. Ges. 60, 299, 434 (1942). In histochemical studies. In determination of antibiotics; of dehydrogenases.