Green chemistry methods in sulfur dyeing: application of various reducing D-sugars and analysis of the importance of optimum redox potential.

The importance of sulfur dyeing of cellulosic fibers, particularly cotton, is realized economically throughout the dyeing industry. At the present time, dyeing with sulfur dyes requires the use of various auxiliaries, many of which have adverse effects on the environment. The most damaging of these is the reducing agent sodium sulfide, required to reduce the dye molecules to a water-soluble leuco form to enable adsorption and diffusion into the fiber. In this study, attempts have been made to replace the sodium sulfide used within the sulfur dyeing process with a variety of environmentally friendly reducing sugars. The redox potential of various hexose and pentose monosaccharides and reducing disaccharides was recorded and compared. Subsequently, cotton was dyed with the world's most important sulfur dye, C. I. Sulfur Black 1, using the reducing sugars under alkaline conditions, and compared to dyeings secured by employing commercial sulfide reducing agents. It was observed that reducing sugars gave comparable, and in many cases superior, color strength and wash fastness results, with respect to the commercial sulfide-based reducing agents, which still account for the vast majority of sulfur dyeing processes and that pose significant environmental concern. Employment of reducing sugars in sulfur dyeing could provide a sustainable, nontoxic, biodegradable, cost-effective alternative to sodium polysulfide and sodium hydrogen sulfide. Comparison of the redox potential of reducing sugars against the color strength of the dyeings secured demonstrated that there was an optimum redox potential of around -650 mV for maximum color strength achieved. The same redox potential also conferred the lowest color loss upon washing. These observations were attributed to reduction of the polymeric dye molecules to an optimum size for fiber affinity and diffusion into the fiber, but which would also confer maximum wash fastness upon oxidation.