Improving the anti-wrinkle and hydrophilicity performance of cotton fabric via crosslinking cellulose with carboxylated polyaldehyde trehalose

The covalent crosslinking mechanism of anti-wrinkle treatments for cotton fabric mainly involves etherification of aldehyde groups and polycarboxylic acid. In this article, a new type of anti-wrinkle finishing reagent containing multiple aldehyde and carboxyl groups was prepared for the first time, combining the advantages of two mechanisms. After oxidation with TEMPO and sodium periodate catalytic systems, 6, 6′-carboxy trehalose (oxyTr) and carboxylated polyaldehyde trehalose (openTr) were obtained. The structural characteristics of oxyTr and openTr were analyzed with FTIR, 13C NMR and MALDI-TOF-MS. The anti-wrinkle properties, whiteness index, tensile strength rate and hydrophilicity of openTr-treated fabrics were compared with those of fabrics treated with industrialized anti-wrinkle finishing agents. The anti-wrinkle properties of the openTr-treated fabric significantly improved, and the crease recovery angle reached 261°. In addition, the hydrophilicity of fabric treated with openTr remained closer to that of non-treated fabric than fabric treated with other anti-wrinkle treatments.