Plant cuticle as coating on

clothes

Introduction
Cuticle in plants
The outer parts of most of the higher plants are enveloped inside a polymeric
complex. The outer envelop is waterproof and is made up of complex mixture
of nonpolar lipids, known as waxes and biopolyesters. It is synthesized by the
epidermal cells and covers the epidermis of leaves, young shoots and other
aerial plant organs. The thickness of the layer varies with the species and the
organs. It is usually thick in the leaves and the fruits whereas for species, It is
found to be thicker in the mesophytic and aquatic plants than in xerophytes
and plants on dry lands.

The structure of cuticle

The cuticle is the combined structure of the polyesters and the waxes on top
of it. In the 19th century, people carrying out tests on cuticle figured out that
the cuticular layer was released from the plant with the treatment from
strong acids. Later on this layer was found to be attached to the epidermal
cells with the help of a pertinacious glue. This glue is known as pectin. Pectin
is also present in between the epidermal cells to fill the cracks between them.

simplified representations of the cuticle

Function
The main function of the cuticle is to prevent the loss of water from the
stoma and also to not let the water enter directly the plant from the
epidermis.
The other function is the protection of the parts they cover.
It does so by
Preventing contamination of plant tissues with external water, dirt and
microorganisms
Preventing the attack from insects and animals.
Reflecting UV rays and preventing the exposure of the plant to it.

Function in aquatic plants

Since the aquatic plants grow in water, their external parts have to be
waterproof to reduce the gain of unwanted water.
And since the plant body is either totally or partially immersed in water,
the plant could decay fast. So, the cuticles prevents the decaying of the
plant body.

Choice of plant
We needed to make a waterproof cloth and what we thought would be the
best for it was to use the leaves of an aquatic plant. We could have used some
xerophytes for we can easily extract the cuticles from it, but the function of
the cuticle in the xerophytic plants is to reduce the transpiration and thereby
reduce the loss of water but using it would not let our skin breathe out water
vapours. Transpiration in plants is similar to the loss of water through skin in
animals and it would be uncomfortable for people to wear it. So we selected
an aquatic plant, lotus.

History of waterproof clothes

Waxed clothes
From the 15th century people had started to apply fish oil to make their
clothing waterproof. Those clothes had fish-like smell and were not that good
preventing water. In 1795, Francis Webster Ltd added linseed oil to flax sails
to create more efficient sails. In the mid-1920s, three companies co-operated
to create paraffin-impregnated cotton, which produced a highly water
resistant cloth, breathable but without the stiffness in the cold or yellowing
with age. But now, modern materials have replaced it.

 PTFE and other synthetic fibers

Now a days synthetic fibers have dominated the waxed clothes. Polyamide
fibers of nylon and polymers of fluoroalkenes such as polytetrafluoroethylene
can better repel water. Due to the presence of non polar tetrafluoroethene
monomer and strong carbon-fluorine bond, it does not attract water
molecules and is less reactive to chemicals.

Extraction
Since the cuticle is attached to the epidermis with the help of pectin, we
treated the leaf to some chemicals to disrupt the pectin layer and release the
cuticle. The most commonly used gentle methods are treatment to
ammonium oxalate/oxalic acid or some pectin degrading enzymes.
First we dissolved the epicuticular waxes using chloroform and put the leaves
inside a beaker with ammonium oxalate/ oxalic acid. We left it for about a day
but we could observe no change. And thus we exposed the leaves to strong
acid. We used zinc chloride in concentrated (about 2 mol.dm-3 ) hydrochloric
acid in the ratio of 1gram: 1.7ml. We again left it for a day and when we
looked at it again, we could see the cuticular membranes sticking out of the
leaves. We tried to separate the membranes physically but only got either
small fragments of it or big ones with parts of leaf on it.

Application
The size of the cuticular membrane was not a problem for us at the
beginning. For the application of the membrane to a cloth or a cloth fiber, we
thought of dissolving the membrane in a volatile solvent and letting the fiber
soak the membrane from the solvent then coating the cloth with waxes. But
what we thought was not possible. We tried to dissolve the small fragments
of the membrane into ethyl acetate. We supposed that the membrane would
dissolve due to the interlinking of the hydrogen bonding between acetate and
the polyesters of the membrane, but it did not get dissolved.
So, the only way we could think was to glue it to the cloth, just like how it
remained in the nature.

Depolymerization of cuticle
Since the cuticular membrane is mostly polyesters, most commonly used
methods include alkaline hydrolysis, transesterification with methanol
containing boron trifluoride or sodium methoxide or reductive cleavage by
reducing agents. We used potassium hydroxide to break the ester bond.

Chromatography
The depolymerized cuticular membrane and the epicuticular waxes were
used for the analysis of their composition. Gas-liquid chromatrography was
done to find the composition of the membrane whereas Gas-liquid
chromatography with mass spectrometry was done for the waxes.
The following result was obtained from the chromatography.
The membrane contained mostly the C16 and C18 family.
The C16 family mainly consisted of hydroxyacids, carboxylic acids and triols;
whereas the C18 family included epoxy acids and alkenioc acids.

The epicuticular waxes were dissolved in chloroform before the cuticle

extraction was done. So the chloroform solution was left to evaporate. The
waxes were left after the chloroform got vaporized.
Alkanes-36%
Primary alcohols-23%
Alkyl esters-11%
Triterpenoids-7%
Unidentified wax mixture-14%
Secondary alcohols, alkenols and benzyl esters- others
C22 to C32 primary alkohols
C12 to C22 alkyl esters
C32 to C36 benzyl esters

Advantages
The cuticles are naturally made polymers. So there is no need to make
them ourselves.
It is easier to extract and apply.
Provides a good barrier to water even with thin layer of it. (less than 15
microns)
Reflects UV radiations.
Provides a two layered protection.
Provides resistance to the decaying of the cloth.

disadvantages
The water repelling nature is not as good as that of fluorocarbons.
It is only resistant to some of the chemicals and can be easily corroded
with organic solvents and alkaline solutions.
The waxes get weathered as the time passes.
The cloth gets stiffened due to the layer.

Thank you