HRP-mediated polyacrylamide graft modification of raw jute fabric

• The feasibility of HRP-mediated grafting acrylamide (AM) on jute fiber was firstly investigated.
• The characterization of products revealed the covalently coupling of AM to lignin or jute fibers.
• The surface hydrophilicity of the enzymatically modified jute fiber was increased.

The horseradish peroxidase (HRP)/hydrogen peroxide system can catalyze the free-radical polymerization of aromatic compounds such as lignins. In this study, to improve the hydrophilicity of lignin-rich jute fabrics, acrylamide (AM) was grafted onto their surface by HRP-mediated oxidative polymerization. The resulting AM-lignin graft polymer in jute fibers, from which the lignin was removed by extracting with dioxane, was characterized by gel permeation chromatography, elemental analysis, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results show that AM was grafted to the jute fiber by HRP. Furthermore, the hydrophilicity of the fabrics was determined in terms of wetting time, balance moisture regain, and static contact angle. Compared to the control sample, the wetting time, balance moisture regain, and static contact angle of the grated fabrics varied from 11.62 min to 7.45 min, from 9.78% to 10.40%, and from 122.30° to 92.84°, respectively, indicating that the hydrophilicity of the raw jute fabric improved. The modification conditions of the HRP-catalyzed AM-grafting reaction were optimized in terms of the nitrogen content of the jute fabrics.

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