Molecular design and synthesis of N-arylsulfonated coumarin fluorescent dyes and their application to textiles

A series of new coumarin fluorescent dyes derived from arylsulfonation of the parent benzothiazole, benzimidazole and benzoxazole dyes have been synthesized in high yield. The dyes were successfully applied to polyester fabrics to give highly fluorescent greenish-yellow shades. Improvements in fastness to sublimation, washing and perspiration (both acidic and alkaline) were observed but there was no general improvement in lightfastness compared with the parent compounds. Molecular modeling studies (AM1, MM2, ZINDO calculations) were used to investigate relationships between the chemical structures, spectral properties and technical performance.