Multifunctional sucrose acid as a ‘green’ crosslinker for wrinkle-free cotton fabrics

In this study, a ‘green’ crosslinker was developed using sucrose, an inexpensive natural resource, as replacement for conventional durable-press finishing agents for cotton fabrics. Sucrose was oxidized using a benign oxidizing agent, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), and carboxylated using malic acid to form multifunctional sucrose acid (MSA). Changes in chemical structure and presence of multiple carboxylic acid groups after oxidation and carboxylation were confirmed using both ATR-FTIR and ¹³C NMR. Cotton fabrics treated with MSA showed a maximum wrinkle recovery angle (WRA) of 202°, over 77% improvement compared to 114° for untreated fabrics. More importantly, the chemical crosslinks introduced in the fabrics after MSA treatment as confirmed by ATR-FTIR were found durable to multiple laundry washings. MSA treated fabrics showed only 18% loss in tensile strength in the warp direction and SEM images of the treated fibers did not show any surface change. This suggested that MSA could be used to replace currently used dimethyloldihydroxyethyleneurea or 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid based finishing agents which are toxic and expensive, respectively. The crosslinking mechanism using MSA and the changes in the physical properties of the fabrics such as WRA, color and tensile strength and strain are discussed.