Antimicrobial Modification of Cotton by Reactive Triclosan Derivative

4-(4-chloro-6-(5-chloro-2-(2,4-dichloro-phenoxy)phenoxy)-1,3,5-triazin-2-ylamino)-benzenesulfonic acid sodium (CPTB), an antimicrobial agent, was synthesized from cyanuric chloride, sulfanilic acid and triclosan. The synthesized compound was coated on cotton fabrics by covalent bonds through a reactive dyeing process. The cotton fabrics coated with CPTB were characterized by FTIR and SEM. The antimicrobial properties against S. aureus and E. coli O157:H7 and the breaking strength of the treated cotton fabrics were examined before and after chlorination. The unchlorinated coated fabrics containing triclosan inactivated 95.88 % of S. aureus and 79.65 % of E. coli 0157:H7 within 30 min, while the chlorinated coated samples enhanced the efficacy significantly and inactivated all S. aureus and E. coli 0157:H7 within 10 min. The novel coating process in this study only caused a small degree of breaking strength loss compared with traditional pad-dry-cure coating. Washing tests and UV light tests showed that CPTB attached to cotton fabrics was very stable toward repeated washing and UVA irradiation.