GB1092961A - Improvements in the treatment of cellulosic materials - Google Patents

Abstract

Compounds having the formula <FORM:1092961/C2/1> in which R1 and R11 each represents a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl radical having 1-4 carbon atoms or a hydrogen atom and W represents a substituted or unsubstituted alkylene radical having 1-4 carbon atoms, are prepared by the reaction of an aqueous formaldehyde solution with an aqueous slurry of a compound having the formula <FORM:1092961/C2/2> prepared (a) by adding sulphur to an aqueous solution of NaS.9H2O and adding thereto acrylamide or other corresponding unsaturated amide; (b) by converting a haloamide to a mercaptan by reaction with NaSH, the mercaptan then being converted to the corresponding disulphide compound; or (c) by the reaction of ammonia or an amine with the corresponding sulphur containing acid chloride, the N-methylol amides being further reacted with an alcohol R1OH in the case where R1 is an alkyl radical.ALSO:Cellulosic textile materials, e.g. cotton, viscose rayon, cuprammonium rayon, cellulose acetate and linen, are creaseproofed by reacting them with an organic reactant containing a first radical which is (1) an aldehyde radical (2) an aldehyde acetal radical having the formula -CH-(OR)2 in which R is a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl radical having 1-4 carbon atoms or (3) an N-methylol amide radical having the formula <FORM:1092961/D1-D2/1> in which R\sv and R\yF are substituted or unsubstituted alkyl radicals having 1-4 carbon atoms or hydrogen, and a second radical which is a sulphydryl radical or disulphide radical, the first radical being separated from the second radical by at least one carbon atom the organic reactant containing two of the first radicals when the second radical is a disulphide radical, in the presence of an acidic catalyst, e.g. the ammonium or amine salts of hydrochloric, sulphuric, phosphoric, perchloric or nitric acid, zinc or magnesium chloride or nitrate, acid fluoride salts, zinc fluoroborate, oxalic acid and sodium hydrogen sulphate. The organic reactant may be applied to the material as a solution in water or water in admixture with an organic solvent, e.g. dimethylformamide or ethanol, by dipping, spraying or padding, and the material then dried and heated to 140 DEG -175 DEG C for 2-10 minutes to effect reaction between the aldehyde, aldehyde acetal or N-methylol amide radicals and the hydroxyl groups of the cellulose. The resulting materials comprise either sulphydryl or disulphide radicals, the disulphide radicals being reducible to sulphydryl radicals by means of alkali metal or ammonium salts of thioglycollic acid, thioglycerol, mercaptoethanol, alkali metal borohydrides or alkali metal hydrosulphites, and the sulphydryl radicals being oxidisable to the disulphide radicals by means of sodium perborate, hydrogen peroxide or aerial oxidation. After reduction of the disulphide radicals to sulphydryl radicals the material may be creased or otherwise shaped and then subjected to an oxidizing treatment to restore the disulphide cross links.