C J Cooksey
C. J. Cooksey | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Research on Tyrian purple, indigo and the history and nomenclature of dyes and stains |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
Christopher J. Cooksey is a British chemist based in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, who is known for his research on natural and historic colorants, particularly the shellfish dye Tyrian purple (6,6'-dibromoindigo) and the chemistry, history and nomenclature of dyes and biological stains.
Biography
Cooksey works from Watford, Hertfordshire, and has pursued much of his research on dye chemistry independently as well as in collaboration with academic laboratories. He has worked with chemists at University College London, including Robin J. H. Clark, on the spectroscopic study of indigo, woad and Tyrian purple, and has collaborated with a number of international colleagues on the synthesis and properties of brominated indigoid dyes.
Cooksey has been an active member of the dye-history community, contributing to and helping to edit the proceedings series Dyes in History and Archaeology.
Cooksey was the Secretary and Treasurer of the British-American Scientific Research Association.
Work
Cooksey's research centres on Tyrian purple, the ancient purple dye extracted from certain species of marine molluscs, and its principal chemical component 6,6'-dibromoindigo, together with related compounds such as 6-bromoindigo and 6,6'-dibromoindirubin. His work has addressed the composition, origin, analysis and laboratory synthesis of these compounds, and he has published simple and safer methods for preparing 6,6'-dibromoindigo. He has also examined the thermochromic behaviour and the effect of light and dye composition on the colour of dyeings made with indigo and the bromoindigos.
In addition to the chemistry of purple, Cooksey has written extensively on the history and identification of dyes and biological stains. His series of articles under the title "Quirks of dye nomenclature" traces the origins, chemistry and often confusing naming of individual colorants such as fuchsine, the rhodamines, Congo red, Biebrich scarlet, Evans blue and madder. He has also compiled bibliographies and reference works on shellfish purple and on the abbreviations used for dyes, stains and fluorescent probes in biology and medicine.