Ethidium bromide

Ethidium bromide (EtBr) is an intercalating agent commonly used as a nucleic acid stain in molecular biology laboratories for techniques such as agarose gel electrophoresis. When exposed to ultraviolet light, it will fluoresce with a red-orange color, especially after binding to DNA (almost 20-fold increase). This is likely not due to rigid stabilization of the phenyl moiety, because the phenyl ring has been shown to project outside the intercalated bases. The increased hydrophobicity of the environment is believed to be responsible. Because it binds to DNA, ethidium bromide is a very strong mutagen, and may possibly be a carcinogen or teratogen. Important hazard information follows. As with most fluorescent compounds, it is aromatic. The main portion of the molecule is a tricyclic structure with aniline (amino-benzene) groups on either side of a pyridine (six-atom, nitrogen-containing, aromatic ring). The dibenzopyridine structure is known as a phenanthridine.

Related Topics:
Intercalating - Nucleic acid - Stain - Molecular biology - Agarose gel electrophoresis - Ultraviolet light - Fluoresce - Phenyl - Moiety - Mutagen - Carcinogen - Teratogen - Compound - Aromatic - Aniline - Pyridine - Phenanthridine

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