Antimicrobial finishing of wool using an oxidative pretreatment to enhance the exhaustion of quaternary ammonium compounds

Abstract

AbstractAntimicrobial treatments of textiles confer multiple benefits to the textiles and the wearers. We previously demonstrated that a pretreatment of wool with peroxymonosulfate and sulfite uniquely enabled the wool to exhaust large quantities of the cationic biocide poly(hexamethylene biguanide). In this study, we extended our previous work to quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), using cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) as an example. QACs are cationic biocides widely used in household and industrial disinfectants. It was found that the pretreatment enabled the otherwise unreceptive wool to exhaust up to 10% of CPC on the weight of wool. The presence of CPC on the wool was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The exhaustion proceeded rapidly and efficiently at room temperature and could be slightly enhanced at 40–60°C but was not affected by pH over a broad range. Dyeing with reactive dye had little effect on the exhaustion, but acid dye, premetalized dye, and chrome dye decreased CPC exhaustion by 25–50%. Wool fabrics finished with CPC exhibited a strong antimicrobial ability, deactivating 99.9% of Escherichia coli inoculated into the fabrics. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012