易溶于醇及稀氢氧化碱溶液，微溶于水，其0.1%醇溶液或0.04%钠盐水溶液用作指示剂。 Cresol red is commonly used with lead acetate for the detection of urease after PAGE. It is also used as an indicator with the following transition intervals: pH 1.8 (orange) to pH 2.0 (yellow); pH 7.0 (yellow) to pH 8.8 (violet). Cresol Red is used as a tracking dye in DNA, RNA (agarose) and protein (polyacrylamide) electrophoresis. In agarose, Cresol Red runs with an apparent molecular size of approx. 125 bp DNA. Cresol Red does not inhibit Taq polymerase. Recently Cresol Red has been used as a pH sensitive indicator dye in nanoengineered optical urea biosensors films and hetero-core structured fiber optic pH sensor.