5-TAMRA cadaverine can used to modify carboxylic acid group in the presence of activators (e.g. EDC, or DCC) or activated esters (e.g. NHS esters) through a stable amide bond. It also can be reversibly coupled to aldehydes and ketones to form a Schiff base – which can be reduced to a generate stable amine derivative by sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) or sodium cyanoborohydride (NaCNH₃).

Although the mixed isomers of 5(6)-TAMRA cadaverine is a preferred, routinely used orange-fluorescent dye for staining proteins, it is rearly used for labeling peptides and nucleotides. Purification of 5(6)-TAMRA labeled peptide and nucleotides might be troublesome due to significant signal broadening in HPLC purification. Peptides and nucleotides labeled with a single isomer TAMRA usually give better resolution in HPLC purification that is often required in the conjugation processes.