Effect of reactive anionic agent on dyeing of cellulosic fibers with a Berberine colorant - part 2: anionic agent treatment and antimicrobial activity of a Berberine dyeing

A reactive anionic agent containing dichloro-s-triazinyl reactive group was synthesized and applied to the cotton fabric. Berberine as a natural cationic colorant showed considerable substantivity towards anionic agent modified fabric. This Berberine can be also employed in antimicrobial finishes as a natural agent due to its characteristic of cationic quaternary ammonium salt. It was found that the adsorption of Berberine onto cotton fabric pretreated with the anionic agent was greatly increased when compared to that of untreated counterpart. The addition of neutral salts was greatly effective to increase the exhaustion-fixation efficiencies (%EF) of the anionic agent onto the cotton fabric. In terms of antimicrobial activity of Berberine dyeing, the dyed sample with Berberine showed very effective antimicrobial functions showing about 99.5% of bacterial reduction against Staphylococcus aureus. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.