Vat Dyes

Lecture # 4
Textile Dyes & Dyeing
Dr. Rehan Abbasi
 Definition
• The word vat means, ‘Vessel’. The dyes take their name from
vatting. The vat dyes are naturally coloring matter and kept
in wooden vat and make solubilise vat dyes by reduction
– so it is called vat dyes.
 General
characteristics
• Vat dyes are one of the important class in the synthetic
dyes produced. These dyes are characterised by their
insolubility in water.

• They are applied to the fabric in a reduced, soluble form, which

has affinity for the substrate and after the reduced dye been
absorbed, the fabric is taken out from the dye bath and left
in the air or immersed in solution, of a mild oxidising agent to
reproduce the dyeing shades

• Vat dyes are, in general, fast to washing to light, etc.

 Vat dyes are insoluble in water, solubilised by
treatmentwith caustic soda and reducing agent, usually
hyposulphite, the resulting leuco compounds have
affinity for textile fiber, on exposure to air leuco
compound impregnated fiber reoxidises to the insoluble
parent dye.
Vat dyes mainly belong to indigoid and anthra quinoid
classes and are characterized by high fastness, specially
anthraquinoids, most valuable for dyeing and
printing cotton, wool and silk.
pH is kept below a point at which damage to protein fiber
may occur.
Chemical classification Of Vat Dyes
• Until early times of the present century, the only
vat dyes known were those related to indigo.

• But due to the constant research work in the field,

a new class, anthraquinone dyes was found and is
of much prominence these days.
Indigo vat dyes
O O O O

N N
S S
H H
Thioindigo
Indigotin

anthraquinone vat dyes

O

O
 Indigo
• Indigo was first a naturally cultivated dye which
was principally grown in every part of the world.
• Indigo has become quite important in
dyeing full shades of navy blue on wool,
for uniform cloth of good fasteners.
• While dyeing, it is reduced by hydrosulphite, to
make the alkali soluble leuco derivative or to
make indigo white.
 Anthraquinone vat dyes

• Anthraquinone vat dyes are mostly solid in the

insoluble oxidised form, sometimes as dry
solids but more often as aqueous pastes.
• They are applied in the reduced form as 'Vats', the
reduction 'being affected by the use' of sodium
hydrosulphite under strongly alkaline conditions.
Steps Of Vat Dyeing Techniques
• A wide range of different techniques are
used in colouring processes with vat
dyes.

• All processes involve three steps:

· Vatting
· Oxidation
· After treatment.
 vatting
• The step in which the reduction of the dyestuff
into its leuco-form takes place is called vatting.

• Vat dyes are generally more difficult to reduce than

sulphur dyes. Various reducing agents are used. Sodium
dithionite (hydrosulphite) Na2S2O4 is still the most
widely employed although it has some limits.
 Limits of sodium dithionite

•Sodium dithionite is consumed by reduction of the dye and also by

reaction with atmospheric oxygen, therefore an excess of reducing agent
has to be used and various techniques have been proposed to reduce
these losses.

• In addition to this, sodium dithionite cannot be used for

high temperature or pad-steam dyeing processes
because over-reduction can occur with sensitive dyes. In
these application conditions and also for printing,
sulphoxylic acid derivatives are normally preferred or
reduction inhibitors can be used.
Limits of sodium dithionite
 oxidation
• After absorption by the fibre, the dye in its soluble
leuco form is converted to the original pigment by
oxidation.

• This process is carried out in the course of wet

treatment (washing) by addition of oxidants such as
hydrogen peroxide, perborate to the liquor.
 After-treatment
• The final step consists in after-treating the
material in weakly alkaline liquor with a
detergent at boiling temperature.

• This soap treatment is not only aimed at removing

pigment particles, but also allows the crystallisation
of amorphous dye particles, which gives the
material the final shade and the fastness properties
typical of vat dyes.
 Classification according to affinity for fibre

• Vat dyeing conditions can vary widely in terms of

temperature and the amount of salt and alkali
required, depending on the nature of the dye applied.
• Based on temperature, amount of caustic soda,
hydrosulphite and salt, used in dyeing, vat dyes can
be classified into four main groups:
•IK dyes (I = Indanthren, K = cold) have low affinity, they are dyed at 20 -
30 °C and require little alkali and salt to increase dye absorption

•IW dyes (W = warm) have higher affinity, they are dyed at 40 - 45 °C with
more alkali and little or no salt

•IN dyes (N = normal) are highly substantive and applied at 60 °C and

require much alkali, but no addition of salt.
•IK special class (Special dyeing dyes) The dyeing time is usually 45-
60 mins
 Solubilized Vat Dyes

• It's inconvenient to have to reduce your vat dyes in order to

dissolve them. However, it is impractical to sell the reduced
form of the dye, because it will oxidize in the air, back to the
insoluble form.

• The solution to this problem is for the manufacturer to

convert the soluble leuco acid form of the dye to the
leuco ester, such as by reacting the leuco acid with
chlorosulfuric acid ClSO3H in the presence of PYRIDINE
at 60-70° C.
Solubilized Vat Dyes
• The leuco form of this solubilized dye can be
regenerated by removing the ester group chemically
(with sodium nitrite in dilute sulfuric acid) or by the
action of light.
Drawback:
• The drawbacks of solubilized leuco esters are their
greater expense and their poorer uptake into the fiber,
which results in paler shades.