Tyrian purple sea salt in the dye vat and adding potash, he was able to successfully dye wool a deep purple colour. Recent research in organic electronics has shown that Tyrian purple is an ambipolar organic semiconductor. Transistors and circuits based on this material can be produced from sublimed thin-films of the dye. The good semiconducting properties of the dye originate from strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding that reinforces pi stacking necessary for transport. True Tyrian purple, like most high-chroma pigments, cannot be accurately rendered on a standard RGB computer monitor. Ancient reports are also not entirely consistent, but these swatches give a
Carbene dye Carbene dye A carbene dye is a reactive dye based on carbene chemistry. A benzophenone is functionalised with a chromophore or group that can be easily converted to a chromophore at a later stage. The functionalised benzophenone is reacted with hydrazine hydrate and subsequently treatment with mercury oxide. The resulting diazo compound is stable at room temperature. On heating, nitrogen gas is released and the carbene generated. The thus generated carbene reacts rapidly with substrates such as nylon, cotton, glass and polyethylene. The highly reactive carbene group removes the need for different functional groups depending on the substrate to be