Imparting permanent antimicrobial activity onto viscose and acrylic fabrics

Viscose and acrylic fabrics were aminated to enhance metal chelation of Cu, Zn and Ni for the purpose of imparting fabrics antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Fabrics were firstly epoxidized using epichlorohydrin prior amination. Optimization of the reaction conditions, e.g., temperature, medium pH, amine type and metal type and their concentrations, are reported. Aminated fabrics of viscose and acrylic were shown to be viable for chelation with divalent metal cations. The overall results revealed that antibacterial resistance of metalized aminated fabrics that the activity trend of metals is in the order Cu-complex > Zn-complex > Ni-complex with regard to fighting of microorganisms and permanent even after 10 washing. Reaction mechanism of epoxidation, amination and metal chelation of fabrics are offered supported by FT-IR structural study, nitrogen content and atomic absorption spectroscopy.