Syntheses and negative solvatochromism of two 2,6-di(carbamoyl)-substituted pyridinium N-phenolate betaines dyes, 3 and 4, are described for the purpose of obtaining more hydrophilic zwitterionic dyes which are better soluble in water and other aqueous media (such as binary water-solvent mixtures or aqueous ionophore solutions) than the rather hydrophobic standard betaine dyes 1 and 2, which have been used to establish an empirical scale of solvent polarity, called the E T (30) or E N T scale.