Binding of Organic Antimicrobial Agents to Cotton Fabric as Zirconium Complexes

Solutions of zirconium(IV) complexes were used to bind organic antimicrobial agents to cotton fabric by one- or two-bath processes. In the one-bath process, a water-soluble complex of the organic agent was prepared from a carbonatozirconate or zirconyl chloride and applied to fabric by a conventional pad-cure procedure. In the two-bath process, fabric was treated successively with a solution of zirconyl acetate and a solution of a salt of the antimicrobial agent. The fabrics were tested for activity against the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis and the fungus Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Fabrics given a two-bath treatment with pyrithione (1-hydroxy-2-pyridinethione), tetracycline, or oxytetracycline retained excellent bacteriostatic activity after fifty launderings, and the one treated with pyrithione still had excellent antifungal activity after twenty launderings. Antimicrobial activity imparted by some of the one-bath treatments was initially extremely high but was less durable to laundering.