Polymerization of Catechol Employing Polyoxovanadate as Biomimetic Models Catalyze for Textile Dyeing

The outstanding redox chemistry of polyoxovanadate has shown excellent catalysis prospects. In the present work, the effect of polyoxovanadate (K-7[MnV13O38]& BULL;18H(2)O) on the catalytic polymerization of catechol was investigated for the first time. The synthesized polymer was applied in-situ for the dyeing of cotton under mild conditions. Various process parameters, including the dosages of catechol and polyoxovanadate and incubation temperature, which influence the color depth, were analyzed. The effect of different time intervals on polyoxovanadate-catalyzed polymerization of catechol was examined using UV-vis spectroscopy. The color intensity of cotton was evaluated by means of K/S value and color difference (delta E*). The results show that the dyeing depth of the dyed cotton fabrics gradually increased with the extension of time and the increase in the concentration of polyoxovanadate. This work represents a novel synthetic process exploring the potential of a polymer to be used for textile dyeing.