is allowed to react for 8 24 hours at room temperature and is thereafter filtered and washed acid free the desired azo product is thus obtained in the form of a wet cake the quaternary alkyl ammonium dyes of the invention are prepared by quaternizing azo dye obtained from the coupling reaction with an alkylating agent or by coupling the diazotized amine with the coupling component as described above after the coupling component has been quaternized the novel dyes in their unquaternized form are converted to the corresponding quaternary alkyl ammonium derivatives by treatment with conventional alkylating agents the quaternary ammonium derivatives of the coupling components and azo dyes of the invention are prepared by known alkylation procedures i e by reaction of the amino group and an alkylating agent such as dimethyl sulfate a lower alkyl chloride bromide or iodide benzyl chloride methyl p toluene sulfonate and the like the quaternization reaction is advantageously done in an inert organic diluent such as o dichlorobenzene in order to obtain a fluid reaction medium the anion a in the quaternary compound is an organic or inorganic water soluble ion including cl br i hso 4 h 2 po 4 zncl 3 ch 3 so c 2 h 5 so 3 c 6 h 5 so 3 hcoo ch 3 coo c 6 h 5 coo and the oxalate tartrate and citrate ion the anion a may be introduced by the alkylating agent eg dimethyl sulfate providing methosulfate anion or the anion may be introduced in salting out the quaternary compound from the quaternization reaction mass for example by addition of zinc chloride providing the trichlorozincate anion the quaternary dyes of the invention have.