Transesterification reaction and application in anti-wrinkle finishing of cotton fabrics

Citric acid (CA) can impart good anti-wrinkle properties to treated cotton fabrics, but it also causes significant strength loss and yellowing. In this paper, Trimethyl citrate was applied to anti-crease finishing of cotton fabrics. The transesterification reaction between the ester group of trimethyl citrate and the hydroxyl group of cellulose was investigated and the possible crosslinking and anti-crease mechanism was proposed. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) was used to study the changes of infrared spectra of trimethyl citrate in heterogeneous transesterification of cotton fabrics. The results showed that trimethyl citrate can occur heterogeneous transesterification reaction with cellulose. The optimized procedure for treating fabrics was 0.1 mol / L of zinc acetate, 0.2 mol / L of trimethyl citrate, curing temperature of 130 °C, and curing time of 3 min. Consequently, the WRA of treated fabrics could be increased to 132°, 46.7% higher than that of untreated fabrics at 90°, and the strength retention rate (TSR) of treated fabrics could reach 85.7%. This indicates that transesterification has a potential for industrial applications.