[bmne4]

I am looking to immobilise tetrazolium dye MTT in agarose. I need to immobilise MTT so that it will not leach out of agarose once an aqueous media comes in contact with agarose gel. Any ideas how this can be done. I am not a chemist, this forum is my first point of enquiry. Any suggestions or directions to another forum to find answers is appreciated. Thanks.

[Yggdrasil]

Are you attempting to immobilize single molecules?  If not, you could conjugate the dye to beads then embed the beads in agarose.

[bmne4]

Thanks for your reply. How can I conjugate this particular dye (MTT) to beads. What kind of beads would be suitable to use? Do you have any protocols for dye conjugation and embedding in agarose? Any details or references is appreciated.

[bmne4]

The dye molecules need to be immobilised in agarose (not to leach out) but at same time available for bacteria to metabolise them. Bacteria (samples) will come into contact with agarose after dye immobilisation.