Aditi, a class XII student, was discussing diazonium salts. She pointed out the diazonium salts couple with phenols/ amines to form azo dyes which are widely used to colour both the fabric and the food. The emphasized that although azo dyes are excellent for dyeing fabric but the food coloured with azo dyes is harmful particularly for young children and asthama patients. therefore, she stressed that only natural dyes should be used for colouring food. After reading the above passage, answer the following questions, (i) What are azo dyes ? Give one example. (ii) Name an azo dye which has been used as a food colour in the past but has now been benned?

Aditi, a class XII student, was discussing diazonium salts. She pointe

1.	Aditi, a class XII student, was discussing diazonium salts. She pointed out the diazonium salts couple with phenols/ amines to form azo dyes which are widely used to colour both the fabric and the food. The emphasized that although azo dyes are excellent for dyeing fabric but the food coloured with azo dyes is harmful particularly for young children and asthama patients. therefore, she stressed that only natural dyes should be used for colouring food. After reading the above passage, answer the following questions, (i) What are azo dyes ? Give one example. (ii) Name an azo dye which has been used as a food colour in the past but has now been benned?
Answer» Solution :(i) Dyes containing -N=N-as the functional group are called azo dyes. For example, the simplest azo dye is aniline yellow obtained by coupling benzenediazonium chloride with aniline. (II) An example of SYNTHETIC azo dye which has been USED to colour FOOD is tetrazine. it is CONSIDERED to be a cancer suspect.