Dihydroxypropyl\nChitosan: A Biorenewable Platform\nfor the Design of Novel Fabric Care Additives

The design of more sustainable and eco-friendly solutions\nis one\nof the central challenges in the formulation of today’s laundry\nproducts. Water-soluble polymers are indispensable additives in laundry\ndetergents as they play a wide range of functions. At present, the\nvast majority of these are still produced from petrochemical resources.\nIn order to explore more sustainable alternatives, in this work, we\nhave synthesized, characterized, and tested a novel group of anti-redeposition\nand soil release polymers based on hydrophobically modified 2, 3-dihydroxypropyl\nchitosan (DHPCH), a highly water-soluble chitosan derivative. Chitosan\nwas selected on the basis of its environmental profile. Our results\nsuggest that hydrophobic moieties are essential to observe cleaning\nbenefits on synthetic based-textile. The level of modifications and\nthe molecular weight of the unmodified chitosan were also shown to\nbe decisive in conveying observable cleaning properties. This work\nis significant because it illustrates that DHPCH is a valid biorenewable\nplatform for the development of new sustainable polymers for laundry\ndetergents.