Large Unilamellar Vesicle Liposomes for Wool Dyeing: Stability of Dye-Liposome Systems and Their Application on Untreated Wool

Abstract

Studies are described involving the use of large unilamellar liposomes (LUV) as carriers of dyes to untreated wool. To this end, we investigated liposomes made with egg phosphatidylcholine and containing the commercial acid dyes Polar red B (Ciba-Geigy), CI acid red 249, or Polar blue 6B, CI acid blue 83. We first studied the physicochemical stability of liposomes by measuring the mean particle size distribution of phospholipid vesicles after preparation and during the dyeing process, and we also investigated the possible hydrolysis of phospholipid molecules, studying the alteration of fatty acids built up on the liposomic structures. We then investigated the kinetic aspects of dye adsorption and bonding on untreated wool samples by means of LUV liposomes at different lipid concentrations. This process leads to an inhibition of dye exhaustion in untreated wool fibers, improving the bonding of these acid dyes to the keratinic structure.