The sensitivity and impact of dye structure and fibre micronaire on the increased dyeability of bioengineered cotton fibres

Previous research reported on a screening method to assess the functionalisation of bioengineered cotton fibres through the absorption of CI Acid Orange 7. The aim of the present paper is to extend this study to different dye classes. Thus the dye absorption of bioengineered cotton fibres containing oligochitin is studied for a series of dye classes. Statistically significant differences were found between cotton lines designed to produce oligochitin in the fibre and their respective controls for all tested dyes, confirming previous results with CI Acid Orange 7. Further, although variations in micronaire influenced dye absorption, it was confirmed for all dyes tested as well as for CI Acid Orange 7 that the oligochitin production had a larger impact on the exhaustion values than the differences in micronaire. The method described in this paper can be applied as a screening tool to meet the challenge of working with small quantities of fibrous materials. Moreover it shows the potential that the incorporated oligochitin has for increasing dyeability with a wide range of dyes and creating fibres with more versatile reactivity