Chitosan grafting via one-enzyme double catalysis: An effective approach for improving performance of wool

Chitosan is considered as a green additive with broad application prospects due to its advantages like biodegradability and antibacterial ability. Herein, we proposed an effective chitosan grafting approach via one enzyme double catalysis strategy which aimed at functionalizing wool fibers to achieve bidirectionally multiple covalent crosslinking between chitosan and wool by laccase/2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) mediated oxidization. The mechanism was studied using models of wool and chitosan in terms of UV, FTIR, GPC and MALDI-TOF MS. Meanwhile, the structure and morphology of wool fiber grafted with chitosan were characterized by ATR-FTIR and SEM. Compared with untreated wool, this efficient method can significantly improve the dimensional stability to felting (2.53 %), wettability and dyeability of wool fabric, and can also compensate for the strength loss caused by the pretreatment. The present work provides a useful path for the enzymatic modification of keratin-containing fibers like wool using chitosan and other natural biopolymers with similar structure.

Automated summary

An effective chitosan grafting method using enzymatic modification has been proposed to improve the properties of wool fabric significantly and compensate for the strength loss caused during the pretreatment process.