Ponceau 6R is a red azo dye which is widely used as a food colorant and also used in histology staining. It is soluble in water and slightly soluble in ethanol.

Ponceau 6R (P6R) has been used as a reference standard for the determination of synthetic food and beverages colorants by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array detector and as a model compound for detailed study of the mechanism of an azo-dye degradation by soybean peroxidase enzyme (SBP). It may be used as a reference standard in the determination of ponceau 6R in drinks and candy samples using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC).