Inaccurate chemical structures of dyes and fluorochromes found in the literature can be problematic for teaching and research

Abstract

Representations of the chemical structures of dyes and fluorochromes often are used to illustrate staining mechanisms and histochemical reactions. Unfortunately, inaccurate chemical structures sometimes are used, which results in problems for teaching and research in histochemistry. We comment here on published examples of inadequate chemical drawing and modeling. In particular, omission of hydrogen atoms can lead to misleading hydrogen-bonding interactions, and inaccurate drawing and modeling procedures result in a variety of implausible molecular structures. The examples and arguments given here are easily intelligible for non-chemists and could be used as part of a training approach to help avoid publication of misleading or puzzling dye structures and molecular models for illustrating biological staining and histochemical studies.

Key words::

• chemical structure
• chemical drawing
• dyes
• histochemical reactions
• molecular models

Acknowledgments and dedication

We thank A. Palacios, J. Casado, F.L. Simón, F. García and A. Blázquez-Castro for valuable collaboration. This work was supported partially by a grant from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (CTQ2007-67763-C03/BQU), Spain. This paper is dedicated to V.F. Solari, in memoriam.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.