Diversifying color palette of Prangos ferulacea colorants on wool yarns: dual mordant approach for enhanced color, antioxidant, and UV protection properties

Abstract

Natural dyes have gained significant attention in recent years due to their environmentally friendly characteristics. This research paper focuses on the dyeing of wool yarns with P. ferulacea aerial part extract in conjunction with biomordants and metal mordants. The study focused on optimizing dyeing variables including pH of 2–8, temperature of 65 °C–95 °C, dye concentration of 25%–125% o.w.f., and dyeing time of 15–120 min using a one-factor-at-a-time (OFT) optimization by determining the color depth (K/S) values on wool yarns. The optimized dyeing conditions were a pH of 4, a temperature of 95 °C, a dye concentration of 75.0% (o.w.f.), and dyeing time of 60 min. The color hues, brightness, color intensity, and fastness of the samples varied significantly depending on the kind and nature of the biomordant used. Furthermore, the introduction of metal ions as pretreatment to biomordanted wool yarns exhibited unique characteristics such as the creation of new color shades, the combined enhancement of dye absorption (K/S), and increased color fastness with the most colorfast hues produced by Cr, Cu, and Fe-biomordant combinations. The antioxidant potential of biomordanted wool yarns was evaluated in terms of the inhibition of peroxidation by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging activity and compared to the un-dyed wool yarns. The two-step mordanting process enhanced the antioxidant activity of dyed wool yarn (up to 99.90%) compared to the unmordanted sample (58.30%) and the negative control sample (5.70%). The ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) values were found in a very good to excellent range, with a rating >40 and maximum protection (UPF = 59.80) provided by Fe-YM mordanting. The findings indicate that this efficient technique enabled us to broaden the spectrum of colors generated by the extract of P. ferulacea aerial parts on wool, while simultaneously guaranteeing outstanding antioxidant and UV protection characteristics.