[3][4] The original procedure developed by the German chemists Kern and Caro involved the reaction of dimethylaniline with phosgene to give 4,4′-bis(dimethylamino)benzophenone (Michler's ketone) as an intermediate.

[8] In alkaline solutions, nucleophilic hydroxyl ions attack the electrophilic central carbon to produce the colourless triphenylmethanol or carbinol form of the dye.

[citation needed] Some triphenylmethanol is also formed under very acidic conditions when the positive charges on the nitrogen atoms lead to an enhancement of the electrophilic character of the central carbon, which allows the nucleophilic attack by water molecules.

[citation needed] Crystal violet is used as a textile and paper dye, and is a component of navy blue and black inks for printing, ball-point pens, and inkjet printers.

[12] In this application, crystal violet works as an intercalating dye and allows the quantification of DNA which is proportional to the number of cells.

[20] It is commonly used for: In resource-limited settings, gentian violet is used to manage burn wounds,[21] inflammation of the umbilical cord stump (omphalitis) in the neonatal period,[22] oral candidiasis in HIV-infected patients[23] and mouth ulcers in children with measles.

[27] Crystal violet itself was first synthesized in 1883 by Alfred Kern [de] (1850–1893) working in Basel at the firm of Bindschedler & Busch.

[6] To optimize the difficult synthesis which used the highly toxic phosgene, Kern entered into a collaboration with the German chemist Heinrich Caro at BASF.

In 1922, the Biological Stain Commission appointed a committee chaired by Harold Conn to look into the suitability of the different commercial products.

[35] He published a monograph in 1890 on the bactericidal effects of a solution that he christened "pyoctanin", which was probably a mixture of aniline dyes similar to gentian violet.

[38] A much more detailed study of the effects of Grübler's gentian violet on different strains of bacteria was published by John Churchman in 1912.

[40][41] The Food and Drug Administration in the US (FDA) has determined that gentian violet has not been shown by adequate scientific data to be safe for use in animal feed.

On June 28, 2007, the FDA issued an "import alert" on farm raised seafood from China because unapproved antimicrobials, including gentian violet, had been consistently found in the products.

Several studies by the National Toxicology Program reported the carcinogenic and mutagenic effects of crystal violet in rodents.