http://www.go2itnetwork.com/fluorescent-dye/
What is the chemical nature of “Envsion”?
It’s a fluorescent dye marketed by Amresco that is supposed to be a safe alternative to ethidium bromide for seeing DNA bands on an agarose gel. Does anyone know what’s in it?
I don’t know.
Some of the time, when a company says it has a non-toxic way to stain DNA, it just means that they haven’t done the mutagenesis testing … so it hasn’t been proven toxic. And generally, if something binds DNA and absorbs UV light, I wouldn’t trust it much!
But Amresco sells methylene blue, which can also stain DNA, so maybe Envision is a fluorescently labeled version of that dye.
You could try phoning the company or looking at the MSDS to see if it tells you, but they might be pretty cagey about details due to patent/competition issues.
In the meantime, EtBr is a charged molecule so they say it doesn’t really get across undamaged skin … thus, although it is certainly not to be triffled with, it might not be as dangerous as many people treat it to be. Plus, it is generally a lot cheaper than the alternates.
UV LED Lamps and Goggles for Fluorescent Dye Leak Detection