Stains-all is metachromatic and changes its color dependent on its contact to other molecules. The detection limit for phosphoproteins is below 1 ng after one hour of staining, for anionic polysaccharides between 10 and 500 ng. Highly anionic proteins are stained blue, proteoglycans purple and anionic proteins pink. RNA is stained blueish-purple with a detection limit of 90 ng and DNA is stained blue with a detection limit of 3 ng.
Stains-all is light sensitive, therefore the staining is performed in the absence of light and photographed immediately. Staining of proteins can be improved by a subsequent silver stain. The analogue Ethyl-Stains-all has similar properties as stains all, with differences in solubility and staining properties.