Amaranth (dye)

Amaranth dye

Description

A dark, reddish-purple synthetic dye developed in 1878 by H. Baum. Amaranth is a nonionic, water soluble azo derived from coal tar. Amaranth is a nonpermanent color used as a colorant in natural and synthetic textiles and color photography. It was banned by the FDA in 1976 for use in food and cosmetics.

Synonyms and Related Terms

CI 16185; Acid Red 27; Food Red 9; FD&C Red No. 2; Red Dye No. 2; Ariabel Red 18.42; Pigment Red 193 (on aluminum); amarantti (Fin.); amarant (Ned.); amarante (Fr.); amaranto (Esp.); amaranto (It.)

Chemical structure

Risks

• Suspected carcinogen.
• Fisher Scientific: MSDS

Physical and Chemical Properties

• Soluble in water, glycerol, propylene glycol.
• Insoluble in most organic solvents.
• Composition = C20H11N2Na3O10S3
• CAS = 915-67-3
• Density = 1.5
• Molecular Weight = mol. wt. = 604.46 g/mol.

Resources and Citations

• Colour Index International online at www.colour-index.org Comment: discoverer
• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993
• The Merck Index, Martha Windholz (ed.), Merck Research Labs, Rahway NJ, 10th edition, 1983 Comment: entry 391
• Website: http://www.coloria.net/varita.htm - foreign language equivalent terms
• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997
• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998
• Wikipedia: Amaranth (dye) Accessed April 2026