Rhodamine B is a chemical compound and a dye. It is often used as a tracer dye within water to determine the rate and direction of flow and transport. Rhodamine dyes fluoresce and can thus be detected easily and inexpensively with fluorometers.
Rhodamine B is often mixed with herbicides to show where they have been used.
It is also being tested for use as a biomarker in oral rabies vaccines for wildlife, such as raccoons, to identify animals that have eaten a vaccine bait. The rhodamine is incorporated into the animal’s whiskers and teeth.
Rhodamine B (BV10) is mixed with quinacridone magenta (PR122) to make the bright pink watercolor known as Opera Rose
In California, rhodamine B is suspected to be carcinogenic and thus products containing it must contain a warning on its label. Cases of economically motivated adulteration, where it has been illegally used to impart a red color to chili powder, have come to the attention of food safety regulators.
Picture Credit : Google
