1-Naphthol is used as a precursor in the manufacturing of various azo dyes and pharmaceuticals such as nadolol. It is used as biomarkers. It is used in analytical chemistry as Molisch’s reagent (1-naphthol dissolved in ethanol) for checking the presence of carbohydrates. It plays an essential role with sodium hypobromite to detect the presence of arginine in proteins, which is called as Sakaguchi test.