Cyanines are used in a wide variety of biological applications including comparative genomic hybridization and in gene chips. Depending on the structure, they cover the spectrum visible and IR wavelengths. Cy 3, Cy5 and Cy7 are the most popular cyanine dyes, in particular Cy3 and Cy5 are typically combined for 2 color detection. Cy3 dyes fluoresce yellow-green (ex/em = ~550 /570), while Cy5 is fluorescent in the red region (ex/em = ~650/670 nm). They are usually synthesized with reactive groups on either one or both of the nitrogen side chains so that they can be chemically linked to either nucleic acids or protein molecules. AAT Bioquest offers the broadest selection of cyanine dyes. This non-sulfonated cyanine is not water soluble, and mainly used for labeling oligos, peptides and other small molecules. Cy3NS has chemical and spectral properties identical to Quasar 570 (Biosearch).

Cyanines are used in a wide variety of biological applications including comparative genomic hybridization and in gene chips. Depending on the structure, they cover the spectrum visible and IR wavelengths. Cy 3, Cy5 and Cy7 are the most popular cyanine dyes, in particular Cy3 and Cy5 are typically combined for 2 color detection. Cy3 dyes fluoresce yellow-green (ex/em = ~550 /570), while Cy5 is fluorescent in the red region (ex/em = ~650/670 nm). They are usually synthesized with reactive groups on either one or both of the nitrogen side chains so that they can be chemically linked to either nucleic acids or protein molecules. AAT Bioquest offers the broadest selection of cyanine dyes. This non-sulfonated cyanine is not water soluble, and mainly used for labeling oligos, peptides and other small molecules. Cy3NS has chemical and spectral properties identical to Quasar 570 (Biosearch).