I/EC
QO® FURFURYL ALCOHOL
From this basic chemical
All these uses: 1. Resinifies to form corrosion-resistant resins. 2. Dissolves as well as reacts with many resins. 3. Improves gap-filling and craze-resistant properties of urea adhesives. 4. Wets mineral surfaces. 5. Is a chemical intermediate. 6. Disperses many difficultly soluble substances.
The Quaker Qats Company CHEMICALS
The Quaker Oafs.
Com pany
w
CHEMICALS
DIVISION
337A The Merchandise Mart, Chicago 54, Illinois Room 537A, 1 20 W a l l Street, New York 5, N e w York Room 437A, 48 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., Portland 14, Oregon In t h e United Kingdom: Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., Billingham, England In Europe: Quaker Oats-Graanproducten N. V., Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Quaker Oats (France) S. Α., 3, Rue Pillet-Will, Paris IX, France; A / S " O t a , " Copenhagen, S. Denmark In Australia: Swift & Company, Ltd., Sydney In J a p a n : F. Kanematsu & Company, Ltd., Tokyo
Circle No. 35 on Readers' Service Card 48 A
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
difficulty, and not all the problems have been solved by Polyox. This is a project that is making some head way, however, and good quality films from the new resins should be available in 1959. They will be heat-sealable, tough, and resilient, and while readily water-soluble will have good moisture vapor resistance and a " d r y feel." It will be interesting to observe the effect of the ethylene oxide polymers on the detergent industry. As a rule alkyl aryl sulfonates are not used in toilet bars because of the de posit of a tacky film on the skin. The new polymers are said to do away with this effect. In addition, Polyox resins enhance the foaming and skin lubricating properties of the low-cost anionics. Less ex pensive surfactants thus can be used more widely in the formulation of bars, shampoos, and hand cleaners. There may be many other promis ing applications for these versatile new members of the polymeric resin family. Aided by low cost and their unusual properties, researchers u n doubtedly will uncover new uses in the future. H.S.
Dieldrin Clobbers Clothes Moths O l d product finds new market — nearly ideal insectproofing agent for w o o l EVER
Write today for Bulletin 205 which describes QO Furfuryl Alcohol, its chemistry, physical properties and uses.
REPORTS
HEAR
of
Tineola bisselliella?
Well, when you burrowed down into the storage trunk last fall to dig out that comfortable woolen sweater, only to find that moths had gotten to it first, chances are this devastating insect—the webbing clothes moth— probably was the culprit. But it looks as if his days may be numbered—thanks to Shell Chem ical's dieldrin, a chlorinated hydro carbon toxicant made up mainly of hexachloroepoxyoctahydrodimethanonaphthalene. This chemical is about as hard for wool-eating insect larvae to digest as to pronounce. Extremely low concentrations of dieldrin on woolen goods ward off attack by the larvae of both the webbing clothes moth and the black carpet beetle even after repeated
I/EC
REPORTS
washing, dry cleaning, and exposure to light and air (see box). Total treatment tab—less than a penny a pound of fabric. B.D. (before dieldrin, that is) all kinds of schemes were tried to protect wool products against insect larvae attack. These included : storage in air-tight containers; me chanical agitation; controlled tem perature storage; solid (/)-dichlorobenzene), liquid (tetrahydronaphthalene), and gaseous (hydrogen cyanide) fumigants; larval poisons, both inorganic (sodium silicofluoride) and organic (DDT, quaternary ammonium salts). All struck out according to the Wool Bureau. Reasons—they are too cumbersome, eat up too much time, or are just plain too expensive. Ideally, a mothproofing treatment should be cheap and easy to in corporate at some stage of the normal manufacturing or processing cycles. The ideal agent should have good affinity for the fiber so that it ex hausts from solution easily; leaves no color, odor, or stains on the fabric; and is nontoxic to the wearer. It must work well at very low concentrations and stay ef fective through normal finishing operations, repeated dry cleaning, washing, and long exposure to light and air. It has to be cheap, too. And dieldrin pretty well fills most of this bill. As little as 0.0005% (based on fiber weight) pro tects wool against moth larval at tack. This figure jumps to 0.005% to fend off carpet beetle larvae, and moth larvae that are baited-on
So, the minimum effective concentra tions reported here can differ from laboratory to laboratory. Application
Partners in crime that literally eat their way into and through your clothes are these larvae, greatly enlarged. At the top is the black carpet beetle and below is the webbing clothes moth
with yeast extract (used to induce feeding on test fabrics). Since newly hatched larvae are the prime trouble makers for wool, researchers allowed moths to lay eggs for one day on dicldrin-treated fabrics. Findings: although eggs were not destroyed nor larvae hatching time affected, 0.02% dieldrin killed all of the hatched critters within 12 to 24 hours. Even 0.0001% insecticide wiped out the whole lot in about 24 hours. But the resistance of different strains of insects can vary all over the place.
No. of No. of Method of Application Washes" During acid dyeing (piece), — 8 pH 2.2
Dry
Cleanings'
—
10 12 30
In rinse liquor after acid dyeing, pH 3.1
—
In acidified rinse liquor after peroxide bleaching, pH
—
—
8 10 12 30
1.9
-
8 10 12
Dieldrin on Fabric, %c 0.05 0.002 0.001 0.0005 0.001 0.05 0.001 0.0005 0.0001 0.001 0.05 0.001 0.0005 Nil
30
Weight Loss,
Moth Larvae Mortality,
Mg.
%
1 2 1 6 4
100 100 100 85 100
0 1 3 11 3
100 100 100 70 100
1 1 4 32 5
100 100 95 35 100
0.001 Wash-wheel, 0.5% pure soap, 15 min., 50° C , air dry. b White spirit containing 0 . 1 % dry cleaning emulsion 0.025% detergent. for 15 min., dry at 75° C. steam press. c From bioassaj' tost. α
50 A
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
For best results, apply dieldrin from aqueous emulsions on the acid side, say experts. Organic solvents simply deposit dieldrin on the out side of the fiber. Dry cleaning and wet washing can remove it fairly easily. But in acicl solution, dieldrin emulsions (dieldrin as the internal, or dispersed, phase) really take to wool. And some of the insecticide works its way right into the wool fiber. It's this small amount of deeply embedded dieldrin that resists removal by conventional dry clean ing solvents (white spirit, trichloroethylenc, perchloroethylene) and keeps the fabric mothproof. Only solvents that swell the fibers (hot methanol and acetone) can get at it to remove it. Reason for the low pH-—wool is positively charged in acid solution and strongly attracts negatively charged emulsion drops. Dieldrin is gradually lost when treated wool is washed in soap solutions. How much depends on the detergent power of the washing liquor. But processed wool con taining 0.05% dieldrin is still moth proof after a 2-hour washing in a wash wheel with 0.5% soap solution at 50° C. Of course, this initial application of dieldrin is a lot more than the minimum effective level. So, wet-finishing processes, such as dyeing, bleaching, or milling, cut down the concentration of dieldrin on treated wool. Therefore, it is best to apply the insecticide in the final wet process, preferably from the acid dye bath when dyeing is the last wet process. Dieldrin for mothproofing is mar keted by insecticide formulators, usually as a 2 0 % active emulsifiable xylene solution. The insecticide is insoluble in water, but soluble in various organic solvents and in oils. Further information on the moth proofing of wool with dieldrin can be obtained from a recent article ( Textile Research Journal, August 1958, pages 679-86) by M. Lipson and J. R. McPhee of Wool Textile Research Laboratories, O S . I . R . O . Geelong, Victoria, Australia, which goes into this subject in much greater detail. L. A. A.
