ABSTRACT

Dear Reader,

The pharmaceutical industry has fostered long-term associations with many industries such as engineering, chemicals, polymers, fine chemicals, instrumentation, and more recently Information Technology, Cloud Computing and even Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. However, one of the longest and most enduring associations has been with the dye industry. The word “dye” brings to our minds colourful tablets, capsules and syrups where a colour or dye is used for identification, differentiation and for enhancing aesthetic appeal. In the laboratory dyes and colours are used as crucial reagents or for staining. Thus, while tiny quantities of dye play crucial roles in the formulations and in pharmaceutical analysis-both chemical as well as microbiological, we seldom give a thought to these agents and their rich historical association with the pharmaceutical industry.