Acetals as crosslinking reagents for cotton

Acetals that react with cotton to form cellulose crosslinks are derived from dialdehydes that can form five‐or‐six‐membered tetrahydrofuran or tetrahydropyran rings. These aldehydes themselves are reactive to cotton, but the acetals do not form the aldehyde to react. The acetals were less reactive than the aldehydes and formed crosslinks with a different structure. Intrinsic reactivity of acetals increased with increased branching in the alkoxy group. but the increase was often hidden by the effect from changing solvents. In some instances a greater reactivity with methyl acetals was pronounced. Strength loss in cotton fabric from crosslinking was greater with acetals than with conventional crosslinking agents because even the most reactive acetals were less reactive and required more rigorous reaction conditions than conventional agents.