Modification of a cellulosic fabric with .beta.-cyclodextrin for textile finishing applications

Grafting of cyclodextrin (CD) molecules on suitable fabrics provides hosting cavities that can include a large variety of chemicals for specific textile finishing. In this study we permanently grafted beta-CD onto the surface of a cellulosic fabric, namely Tencel(R) according to different procedures. After the treatment, benzoic acid, vanillin, iodine, N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide, and dimethyl-phthalate were loaded, by either spraying their solutions on the CD-grafted fabric, or by grafting the previously prepared inclusion compound on Tencel(R). The untreated and treated fabrics were evaluated through scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, UV-vis spectra, X-ray diffractometry, water absorbency, breaking load loss, aroma and antimicrobial finishing tests. Our results indicate that the included compounds are efficiently hosted in the CD cavities, and the fabric's surface properties are not significantly modified by the chemical treatments.