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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Sustainable Biofuels and Co-products Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #421236
Research Project: Chemical Conversion of Biomass into High Value Products

Location: Sustainable Biofuels and Co-products Research

Title: Dyeing and functionalizing mulberry silk with phenolic-amine conjugates of catechin and gallic acid

Author
item BORAH, SHRISTIRUPA - Nowgong College
item BHUYAN, PRIYANGA MANJUR - Nowgong College
item KALITA, RINKU MONI - Bhattadev University
item SARMA, BARNALI - Kaliabor College
item HAZARIKA, SWAPNALI - Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research (CSIR)
item Sharma, Brajendra
item GOGOI, PARIKSHIT - Nowgong College

Submitted to: Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemical Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2026
Publication Date: 5/13/2026
Citation: Borah, S., Bhuyan, P.I., Kalita, R., Sarma, B., Hazarika, S., Sharma, B.K., Gogoi, P. 2026. Dyeing and functionalizing mulberry silk with phenolic-amine conjugates of catechin and gallic acid. Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemical Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.202506494.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.202506494

Interpretive Summary: Recently, there has been an increasing focus on biobased eco-friendly products for use in the chemical and textile industry, because of the organic pollutants that are generated in the process. For the coloration of natural fabrics, such as cotton and wool, utilizing enzyme-catalyzed oxidation of phenolic compounds and their subsequent coupling reactions have been in focus. In the present work, to make the dyeing process eco-friendly, enzyme-catalyzed phenolic conjugates of natural compounds, such as catechin, gallic acid, and glycine are used for silk fabric. In place of harmful metallic mordants, biobased materials such as guar gum and cyclodextrins are explored. This will help improve the environment through the use of eco-friendly processes without generating harmful chemical pollutants, that are often harmful and highly toxic to humans. This work has the potential to be extrapolated to be used for coating biobased food packaging films, as this combination also imparts antimicrobial properties. The use of biobased products will eventually help farmers by increasing the value-addition of their products.

Technical Abstract: This study deals with the simultaneous dyeing and finishing of mulberry silk fabrics with the laccase-catalysed phenolic conjugates of catechin and gallic acid using the amino acid (glycine). The progress of the conjugation reaction of the phenolic-amine conjugates of catechin and gallic acid was characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that the colored silk showed maximum color depth at pH 5 (K/S=18.663 and 16.609) and temperature at 50' (K/S=17.411and 13.401) for catechin and gallic acid conjugates respectively. Silk fabric was treated with bio-mordants (ß-cyclodextrin and guar gum) before dyeing with the conjugated products instead of using the toxic metal mordants. The depth of color and fastness properties of dyed silk with both the catechin and gallic acid conjugates significantly enhanced after treating the silk fabric with beta-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) as compared to guar gum. Moreover, the UV protection, and antioxidant properties were also enhanced on treating the silk fabric with ß-CD and guar gum. The bonding interactions of dyed silk with the colored laccase-catalyzed conjugated products was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).