Carbohydrate Polymers 82 (2010) 202–208 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Carbohydrate Polymers journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/carbpol Chitosan and monochlorotriazinyl--cyclodextrin finishes improve antistatic properties of cotton/polyester blend and polyester fabrics E.S. Abdel-Halim a,∗ , F.A. Abdel-Mohdy a , Salem S. Al-Deyab b , Mohamed H. El-Newehy b a Textile Research Division, National Research Center, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt b Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, P.O. Box 2455, Saudi Arabia article info Article history: Received 6 April 2010 Received in revised form 21 April 2010 Accepted 27 April 2010 Available online 18 May 2010 Keywords: Chitosan Monochlorotriazinyl--cyclodextrins Antistatic finishing Polyester Cotton/polyester blend abstract Permanent fixation of chitosan or monochlorotriazinyl--cyclodextrin (MCT--CD) onto cot- ton/polyester and polyester fabrics was carried out and all parameters controlling the efficiency of both fixation reactions were studied. The amounts of MCT--CD or chitosan fixed onto the treated fabrics were estimated in terms of percent nitrogen content. Results obtained reveal that finishing the said fabrics with either MCT--CD or chitosan generally improves the water uptake capacity of the finished fabrics with- out harmful effect on their physico-mechanical properties. The water uptake capacities of MCT--CD finished fabrics were found to be higher than the corresponding values recorded for chitosan finished fabrics. The general improvement in water uptake of the finished fabrics is attributed to the hydroxyl groups introduced to the fabric structure through finishing with either MCT--CD or chitosan, which increase the fabric’s ability to absorb more water and moisture from air. The presence of more water in such fabrics increases their electrical conductivity and thus improving their antistatic properties. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Static charges usually build up on the surface of synthetic polymers such as polyester and nylon fibers because they retain low moisture content compared with the more hydrophilic cellu- losic fibers. Moreover, at the same moisture content, hydrophobic fibers like nylon or polyester exhibit lower conductivity than do hydrophilic cellulosic fibers (Reck, 1985; Sereda & Feldman, 1964). Although static charges are dissipated through the air, most of the static charges developed on synthetic fibers are dissipated by an induction mechanism along the filaments to an electrical ground. This can be accomplished by either incorporating a conductive material into the polymer itself, or by the application of an antistatic coating to the yarn (Bajaj, Gupta, & Ojha, 2000; Seong, 2001). Many researches have been conducted to develop antistatic treatment for polyester fabrics. Since polyester has hydroxyl func- tional groups, it was possible to crosslink them with amino groups, hygroscopic salts and some other compounds to increase the conductivity of the fiber surface and thus reducing the accumu- lated charges on polyester fabrics (Abdel-Fattah & Saad, 1988; Rybicki & Mielicka, 1996; Seong, 2001; Takahashi, Ohta, Kadota, & Saeki, 1989). Some antistatic finishes are based on treating polyester with metal salts in order to increase the conductivity ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 108113477. E-mail address: essamya@yahoo.com (E.S. Abdel-Halim). of the fiber surface (Rybicki & Mielicka, 1996). Antistatic agents are chemicals that are applied to the surface of synthetic fab- rics to control the tendency of these fabrics to accumulate static charges. Although these agents can function either by reducing the generation of electrostatic charges, by increasing the con- ductivity of the materials to which they are applied or by both mechanisms, most antistatic agents act through the conductivity mechanism. Antistatic finishing of textiles using nanotechnology has been reported. Nano-size zinc oxide (Zhou, Chu, Tang, & Gu, 2003) and nano-size antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) (Wu et al., 2002) could impart antistatic properties to synthetic fibers. TiO 2 , ZnO and ATO provide antistatic effects because they are elec- trically conductive material. Such materials help to effectively dissipate the static charges which are accumulated on the fiber surface. An increasing demand develops for introducing active agents to textile materials (fabric and non-woven) by chemical means in order to create additional properties (functional textiles). For synthetic fibers, this functionalization routes may introduce better hydrophilic behavior (water retention and sweat transport, etc.). Chitosan, cyclodextrins and number of their derivatives constitute a group of chemicals belonging to such type of auxiliaries (Seong, 2001). Cyclodextrins can be obtained by enzymatic degradation of starch leading to the formation of oligosaccharides consisting of six, seven or eight glocopyranose units known as -, - or -cyclodextrin, respectively. The cyclodextrin molecule consists 0144-8617/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2010.04.077