Bromocresol green

The most common use of bromocresol green is to measure serum albumin concentration within mammalian blood samples in possible cases of kidney failure and liver disease.

In chemistry, bromocresol green is used in Thin-layer chromatography staining solutions to visualize acidic compounds.

In aqueous solution, bromocresol green will ionize to give the monoanionic form (yellow), that further deprotonates at higher pH to give the dianionic form (blue),[5] which is stabilized by resonance: The acid dissociation constant (pKa) of this reaction is 4.8.

[6] Tap water is sufficiently basic to give a solution of bromocresol green its characteristic blue-green color.

Additional applications include use in sol-gel matrices,[8] the detection of ammonia,[9] and the measurement of albumin in human plasma and serum.

Skeletal formula of bromocresol green in cyclic form
Ball-and-stick model of the bromocresol green molecule in cyclic form
NFPA 704 four-colored diamond Health 2: Intense or continued but not chronic exposure could cause temporary incapacitation or possible residual injury. E.g. chloroform Flammability 1: Must be pre-heated before ignition can occur. Flash point over 93 °C (200 °F). E.g. canola oil Instability (yellow): no hazard code Special hazards (white): no code
From left to right solutions of 0.1 M HCl, 3 buffer solutions of pH 3.78, 3 of pH 4.00, 3 of pH 4.62 and NaOH 0.1 M after adding different amounts of bromocresol green (more in darker solutions)
Absorbance spectrum of bromocresol green at different pH values. The isosbestic point occurs where the acid and basic forms and mixtures thereof have the same absorbance