Croconate violet
A synthetic violet dye made from croconate and malononitrile
No single value: Croconate violet is a material, and its colour varies. The background shows its family, purple and violet.
Croconate violet is a synthetic dye and anion, first made in 1978 by reacting croconate with malononitrile. Its dipotassium salt forms deep blue metallic crystals, while its water solutions are intensely violet and stain skin strongly. The dye is known for its strong colour and semiconducting properties.
- First synthesised in 1978 by Alexander Fatiadi
- Dipotassium salt forms deep blue metallic crystals
- Water solutions are intensely violet and stain skin
- Known for semiconducting and photophysical properties
What colour is Croconate violet?
Croconate violet is a synthetic dye that appears as deep blue metallic crystals in its dipotassium salt form. When dissolved in water, it produces an intense violet solution that stains skin. It is part of a group of dyes called pseudo-oxocarbon anions, which are related to croconate by replacing some oxygen atoms with dicyanomethylene groups. Croconate violet is also notable for its strong absorption of light in the UV–visible range and its semiconducting behaviour.
Where does Croconate violet come from?
Croconate violet was first synthesised by Alexander Fatiadi in 1978. The dye is made by reacting dipotassium croconate with malononitrile in hot water. Its name comes from its chemical structure, which is based on the croconate anion, modified with dicyanomethylene groups. The acid form, croconic acid violet, was also first made in 1978.
How is Croconate violet made?
The dipotassium salt of croconate violet is produced by treating dipotassium croconate with malononitrile in water at 80–90 °C. The resulting salt crystallises as deep blue metallic needles. The acid form, croconic acid violet, is made by adding hydrochloric acid to the potassium salt. Other salts can be prepared from the acid by reacting it with different alkali metals.
Where Croconate violet is used
Croconate violet is used as a dye, with solutions that strongly stain the skin. Its salts are studied for their strong colour and for their electrochemical and semiconducting properties. The dye is of interest in research fields such as supramolecular chemistry.
Purple around the world
What the purple and violet family means from country to country.
In Holy Week, members of religious brotherhoods walk in procession in robes and pointed hoods, many of them purple, the colour of penance. A purple band also marked the flag of the Second Republic.
Sacred and holyPolitics and protestSource: Holy Week in SpainSuffragettes campaigning for women's votes wore purple, white and green: purple for dignity, white for purity and green for hope.
Politics and protestCourageSource: SuffragetteA child born to a reigning Byzantine emperor was called porphyrogennetos, born in the purple. The birth took place in a palace room lined with purple stone.
Royalty and powerAweSource: Born in the purpleIn the elections of 2005, voters dipped a finger in purple ink to prevent double voting. The stained finger, held up for cameras, became a sign of the vote.
Politics and protestPrideSource: Election inkPurple dye from the murasaki plant was costly and hard to make. In the court rank system set up under Prince Shotoku, the highest officials wore purple caps.
Royalty and powerAweSource: Twelve Level Cap and Rank SystemThe Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon made Tyrian purple from sea snails. The dye was so costly that it became the colour of kings and Roman emperors.
Royalty and powerAweSource: Tyrian purpleShades and relatives of Croconate violet
Related compounds include croconate blue and 2-(dicyanomethylene)croconate, which differ in the number or position of dicyanomethylene groups. The acid form of croconate violet is orange as a solid but gives violet solutions. Croconate blue is obtained if croconic acid is used with malononitrile instead.
Questions people ask about Croconate violet
What colour is croconate violet?
Croconate violet forms deep blue metallic crystals as a salt, and its water solutions are an intense violet.
Where does the name croconate violet come from?
The name comes from its chemical structure, which is based on the croconate anion modified with dicyanomethylene groups, and from the violet colour of its solutions.
How is croconate violet made?
It is synthesised by reacting dipotassium croconate with malononitrile in hot water, producing the dipotassium salt as deep blue metallic needles.
What is croconate violet used for?
It is used as a dye and is studied for its strong colour and semiconducting properties in research.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Croconate violet", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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