Salts of DEAE-Cottons as Built-in Catalysts for the Cellulose-DMEU Reaction

Abstract

The use of a built-in tertiary amine salt as a catalyst for the reaction of cotton with substituted cyclic ureas has been investigated, with emphasis on the reaction of 1,3-bis(hydroxymethyl)-imidazolidinone-2 (called dimethylolethyleneurea or DMEU). Both organic and inorganic acid salts of diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) cotton have been found to be catalytically active. The effects of reaction temperature, concentration of reagent in the pad bath, and solvent media were studied. DEAE-cotton in the hydroxide form catalyzed the DMEU-cotton reaction only in 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol solvent. The very reactive DMEU could be used as finishing agent in a delayed-cure process with the hydrochloride of DEAE-cotton. A similar tertiary amine hydrochloride catalyst, introduced as an external catalyst in the pad bath, was found to be unsuitable for the delayed-cure process with DMEU.