Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
acridine

acridine

1 9.4
A chemical used in labs to stain cells and to make dyes and some medicines
  • noun
  • /ˈækrɪˌdiːn/
  • Specialized
: acridina
  • The pharmaceutical industry utilizes acridine for producing specific medications and treatments.

Examples

  • Cells were neutralized using 0.4 mol/L Tris (pH 7.5) and stained with 8.0 g/mL of acridine orange for 5 min.

    Academic text (2016)

  • Aacridine is commonly used in laboratories to stain cells for microscopic analysis.

  • Researchers often use acridine in the development of new dyes for textiles.

Surface Forms

acridine singular
acridines plural

Morphology

acridine = acrid (semi-transparent) = acrid + ine

The name is formed by adding the chemical naming suffix '-ine' to 'acrid', but '-ine' denotes a class of chemicals (specialized nomenclature) so the relation is only partially obvious to general learners.

Etymology

Acridine comes from acrid ('bitter' or 'sharp') and the chemical ending -ine, like in caffeine. Because these compounds often have a sharp smell or taste, acridine is the name of a nitrogen chemical used in dyes, stains, and some medicines.