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US 7,629,000 B2Granted
Method for making antimicrobial polyester-containing articles with improved wash durability and articles made thereby
AssigneeE.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
InventorSubramaniam Sabesan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to antimicrobial polyester-containing articles utilizing chitosan and chitosan-metal complexes, whose wash durability is improved by covalently bonding the chitosan species to the polyester. The invention also relates to the methods of preparing said articles.
Claims30
A method for preparing an antimicrobial polyester-containing article having chitosan covalently bonded thereon, comprising the sequential steps of:
- (a) providing a polyester-containing article;
- (b) contacting the polyester-containing article with a basic solution, thereby causing hydrolytic rupture of ester bonds in the polyester-containing articles to generate carboxylate groups;
- (c) optionally, washing the article produced in step (b);
- (d) contacting the article produced in step (b) or step (c) with a strong mineral acid solution, wherein the pH of acid solution is less than pH 2 and the mineral acid is HCl, H2SO4, or H3PO4, thereby acidifying the article by formation of free carboxylic acid end groups;
- (e) optionally, washing the article produced in step (d) with water;
- (f) contacting the article produced in step (d) or step (e) with a solution comprising a water-soluble, N,N′-disubstituted carbodiimide;
- (g) optionally, washing the article produced in step (f) with water
- (h) contacting the article produced in step (f) or step (g) with a solution comprising a chitosan agent selected from the group consisting of chitosan, chitosan salts, N-carboxyalkyl chitosan, and O-carboxyalkyl chitosan;
- and
- (i) optionally, heating-the article produced in step (h).
7 more elements
A method for producing an antimicrobial polyester-containing article having chitosan covalently bonded thereon, comprising the sequential steps of:
- (a) providing a feed station on which is disposed a polyester-containing article and a take-up station capable of receiving the polyester-containing article;
- (b) drawing the article from the feed station through a first treatment station wherein said article is contacted with to a basic solution, thereby causing hydrolytic rupture of ester bonds in the polyester-containing articles to generate carboxylate groups;
- (c) optionally, drawing the step (b)-treated article through a second treatment station wherein the article is contacted with water;
- (d) drawing the step (b)- or step (c)-treated article through a third treatment station wherein the article is contacted with a strong mineral acid solution, wherein the pH of acid solution is less than pH 2 and the mineral acid is HCl, H2SO4, or H3PO4, thereby acidifying the article by formation of free carboxylic acid end groups;
- (e) optionally, drawing the step (d)-treated article through a fourth treatment station wherein the article is contacted with deionized water;
- (f) drawing the step (d)- or step (e)-treated article through a fifth treatment station wherein the article is contacted with a solution comprising a water-soluble, N,N′-disubstituted carbodiimide;
- (g) optionally, drawing the step (f)-treated article through a sixth treatment station wherein the step (f)-treated article is contacted with water;
- (h) drawing the step (f)- or step (g)-treated article through a seventh treatment station wherein the article is contacted with a solution comprising a chitosan agent selected from the group consisting of chitosan, chitosan salts, N-carboxyalkyl chitosan, and O-carboxyalkyl chitosan;
- (i) optionally, heating the step (h)-treated article after it exits the-seventh treatment station;
- and
- (j) causing the step (h)- or step (i)-treated article to be received on and accumulate on the take-up station.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.