Energy Education Science and Technology Part A: Energy Science and Research 2009 Volume (issues) 24(1): 39-47 Easy care and perfume finishing of wool/viscose fabric E. M. El-Khatib and M. A. Ramadan* National Research Centre, Textile Research Division, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt Received: 16 March 2009; accepted: 08 May 2009 Abstract In this paper we describe the grafting of monochlorotrizinyl–β–cyclodextrin (R-CD) onto Wool / Viscose fabric (W/V). The grafting reaction was carried out in the presence of citric acid (CA) as a crosslinking agent and sodium hypophosphite (SHP) as a catalyst. The magnitude of crosslinking and the amount of cyclodextrin moieties introduced in the molecular structure of W/V fabric were controlled by using different concentrations of R-CD and CA respectively. Perfume oils namely, rose, jasmine, lemon and lavender were applied to the said easy care W/V fabric samples. The latter were monitored for crease recovery, tensile strength and elongation at break along with percent loss in weight gained and percent loss in fragrance. Perfume retention due to interaction between perfume and the R-CD moieties could be achieved. The release of perfume lasted for almost three months. It was suggested that R-CD anchored to wool and viscose via CA- accommodates the perfume in its cone- shaped cavity, forms complexation and, as a result, the perfume is deposited on the fabric ready to release the smell of the perfume. Keywords: Wool/viscose fabric; Grafting; Crosslinking; Perfume oils; Monochlorotrizinyl- β – cyclodextrin; Citric acid. © Sila Science. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Perfumed textiles are now available in the market. Perfuming of textiles can be achieved during either treatment or care. Incorporation of perfume retention agents during treatment ,such as cyclodextrins [1], elastomer latex/synthetic resin emulsions [2] ,thermoplastic microcapsules [3] ,and coating compositions [4],were reported to bring about textile goods that can release fragrance over along period of time. The cyclodextrins were first isolated in 1891 by Villiers as degradation products of starch in 1904. Schardibgen characterized them as cyclic oligosaccharides and in 1938 Freudenberg [5] described them as macro cyclic compounds built from glucopyranose unite linked by α.(1.4)-glycosidic bonds(6). Cyclodextrins are torus-shaped cyclic oligo-saccharides made of six, seven, or eight glycosidic units are called α, β, and γ-cyclodextrin, respectively. ____________ *Corresponding author. Tel.: 002 02 37831233; Fax: 002 02 33363261. E-mail address: amaramadan@hotmail.com (M. A. Ramadan).