Durable flame retardant finishes for cotton commonly used by the textile industry include tetrakis-(hydroxylmethyl)phosphonium chloride (THPC) and dimethyl (N-hydroxylmethylcarbamoylethyl) phosphonate, known as reactive organophosphorous chemicals. The THPC technology requires an ammoniation chamber and strict application condition control to assure consistent performance, therefore is difficult to apply for massive-market production. The reactive organophosphorous chemicals technology involves the use of a N-methylol phosphorous-containing flame retarding agent and a N-methylol crosslinking agent, both of which contribute to the emission of unacceptably high levels of formaldehyde during fabric finishing as well as the use of finished cotton products. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop effective and safe alternative FR finishing systems to meet the increasing demand for flame resistant cotton textiles used in apparel and home furnishing. Recently, we developed the following non- and low-formaldehyde durable flame retardant finishing systems based on a hydroxy-functional organophosphorus oligomer (FR), shown in Scheme 1, which can be covalently bound to cotton using a crosslinker.
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