crystal violet

CHEBI:41688 ·resolve ·ANTIBACTERIAL ·EXACT SEEDED

An organic chloride salt that is the monochloride salt of crystal violet cation. It has been used in creams for the topical treatment of bacterial and fungal infections, being effective against some Gram-positive bacteria (notably Staphylococcus species) and some pathogenic fungi (including Candida species) but use declined following reports of animal carcinogenicity. It has also been used for dying wood, silk, and paper, as well as a histological stain. — ChEBI

Machine-generated and unreviewed. Identity, structure and cross-references come straight from ChEBI's and CARD's own data; no curator has signed off on this record yet.

Classification

Strictly broader compounds or drug classes this molecule belongs to.

CHEBI:36094 CHEBI:36094

Chemical structure

Computed structure properties
Molecular formula	C25H30N3.Cl
Charge	0
Average mass	407.989 Da
Monoisotopic mass	407.21283 Da
Source	ChEBI
InChIKey	ZXJXZNDDNMQXFV-UHFFFAOYSA-M

SMILES

CN(C)c1ccc(C(=C2C=CC(=[N+](C)C)C=C2)c2ccc(N(C)C)cc2)cc1.[Cl-]

InChI

InChI=1S/C25H30N3.ClH/c1-26(2)22-13-7-19(8-14-22)25(20-9-15-23(16-10-20)27(3)4)21-11-17-24(18-12-21)28(5)6;/h7-18H,1-6H3;1H/q+1;/p-1

Also called

Adergon (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
Atmonil (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
Avermin (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
Axuris (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
Badil (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
Gentiaverm (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
Meroxyl (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
Meroxylan (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
Pyoktanin (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
Vianin (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
Viocid (BRAND_NAME)— chebi
chlorure de méthylrosanilinium (INN)— chebi
cloruro de metilrosanilina (INN)— chebi
methylrosanilinii chloridum (INN)— chebi
methylrosanilinium chloride (INN)— chebi
4-{bis[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]methylene}-N,N-dimethylcyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-iminium chloride (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
(4-{bis[-(dimethylamino)phenyl]methylene}-2,5-cyclohexadien-1-ylidene)dimethylammonium chloride (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
Basic Violet 3 (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
Basic Violet BN (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
Bismuth Violet (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
Blaues pyoktanin (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
Brilliant Violet 5B (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
C.I. 42555 (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
C.I. Basic violet 3 (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
CI 42555 (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
CI Basic Violet 3 (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
Calcozine Violet 6BN (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
Calcozine Violet C (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
Gentian violet (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
Gentianaviolett (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
N-(-4-{bis[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]methylene}2,5-cyclohexadien-1-ylidene)-N-methyltrimethanaminium chloride (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
N-(4-{bis[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]methylidene}cyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-ylidene)-N-methylmethanaminium (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
aniline violet (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
hexamethyl-p-rosaniline chloride (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
hexamethylpararosaniline chloride (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
methylrosaniline chloride (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi

Cross-references

Equivalent identifiers for this same structure in other resources.

cas:548-62-9
drugbank:DB00406
hmdb:HMDB0014550
kegg.drug:D01046
pdb-ccd:CVI
reaxys:3580948
wikipedia.en:Crystal_violet

Activity roles

Every antimicrobial role a source asserts for this compound — the unreduced evidence behind its antimicrobial_class.

CHEBI:33282 CHEBI:33282
CHEBI:35718 CHEBI:35718

Source concepts

Every upstream concept that resolved to this record. The merge is the product: this is what shows ChEBI and CARD are describing the same structure.

Upstream concepts merged into this record
Source	Native ID	Label	Minted CURIE	Version
CHEBI	`CHEBI:41688`	crystal violet	`antibioticmech:chebi-8e82e23cc4`	2026-08-30

Mechanism summary

Clinical status: APPROVED

Curation history

SEEDED_FROM_SOURCES 2026-08-30 · seed_from_sources
Seeded from data/raw/ inventories (CHEBI)
RESEEDED_FROM_SOURCES 2026-08-30 · seed_from_sources
Re-seeded from updated data/raw/ inventories
RESEEDED_FROM_SOURCES 2026-08-30 · seed_from_sources
Re-seeded from updated data/raw/ inventories
RESEEDED_FROM_SOURCES 2026-08-31 · seed_from_sources
Re-seeded from updated data/raw/ inventories
RESEEDED_FROM_SOURCES 2026-08-31 · seed_from_sources
Re-seeded from updated data/raw/ inventories

Provenance

Seeded by scripts/seed_from_sources.py from the committed inventories in data/raw/. View the record.