Cell biology 

MTT (3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) is a tetrazolium salt that is commonly used to detect reductive metabolism in cells for viability, proliferation and cytotoxicity assays. On reduction tetrazolium salts turn into deeply colored products that can be easily quantified by colorimetric measurement. MTT forms a purple formazan product that needs to be solubilized prior to quantification. MTT and XTT are particularly useful for HTS of antiviral and anticancer compounds and for the studies of cytokine effect on cell proliferation. 

• Yellow solid soluble in water or DMSO
• C₁₈H₁₆BrN₅S
• MW: 414.32