Non-leaching and durable antibacterial textiles finished with reactive zwitterionic sulfobetaine

An antibacterial finishing protocol using a reactive sulfobetaine was reported to fabricate safe and durable antibacterial textiles. The specifically designed sulfobetaine contains highly reactive triazine group acting as an anchor to fix the antibacterial betaine group on textiles via covalent bond formation. After the finishing, the textiles were endowed durable antibacterial activities of 98.0% against gram negative Escherichia coli and 95.2% against gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus even after they were laundered for 30 times. The safety evaluation showed that the reactive sulfobetaine had no skin irritation and cytotoxicity. These results indicate that the developed antibacterial finishing is safe and durable on textiles. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.