The purpose of this research is to use N-(3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl) trimethylammonium chloride (CHTAC) to chemically modify the primary amine groups (-NH2) in wool and to study the properties of treated wool,such as nitrogen content,dyeability,fastness,antimicrobial properties,yellowing and physical strength retention.CHTAC has previously been used to modify the properties of polymers with hydroxyl groups (-OH) e.g.cellulose 1.A preliminary search revealed no patents or major publications that involve CHTAC modification of wool,although Kim 2 describes a reaction with the nucleophilic amine groups (-NH2) in the natural polymer chitosan.Conventional wool is traditionally dyed with acid dyes at low pH to produce cationic ammonium (-NH3 + ) sites that attract anionic dyes.Once modified with CHTAC,wool contains quaternary ammonium groups -N(CH3)3 + that are positively charged at any pH.After wool gains a quaternary cationic group,some of the above-mentioned properties are enhanced,as they have been for cotton and chitosan.Dow Chemical Company,an industrial partner of the College of Textiles,kindly supplied chemicals and provided some assistance with the elemental analysis of samples.
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