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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #314459
Title: Understanding the mechanism of action of triazine-phosphonate derivatives as flame retardants for cotton fabrics

Author
item Nguyen, Monique
item AL-ABDUL-WAHID, M. SAMEER - Miami University - Ohio
item Fontenot, Krystal
item Graves, Elena
item Chang, Sechin
item Condon, Brian
item Grimm, Casey
item LORIGAN, GARY - Miami University - Ohio

Submitted to: Molecules
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/11/2015
Publication Date: 6/18/2015
Citation: Nguyen, M.M., Al-Abdul-Wahid, M., Fontenot, K.R., Graves, E.E., Chang, S., Condon, B.D., Grimm, C.C., Lorigan, G.A. 2015. Understanding the mechanism of action of triazine-phosphonate derivatives as flame retardants for cotton fabrics. Molecules. 20(6):11236-11256.

Interpretive Summary: Many studies are available for triazine-phosphonate derivatives, which contain phosphorus and nitrogen elements, as flame retardants for cotton fabric; however, a smaller arena is available for their mode of action on cotton fabric. Previous reports of two triazine-phosphonate flame retardants indicated that they form a protective layer on cotton fabrics during the burning process. Therefore, the mode of action of the two flame retardants was investigated. The result of this study indicated that the presence of the flame retardants on the cotton fabric results in a reduction in the amount of the fabrics being thermally degraded. Furthermore, the major component produced during burning was phosphoric acid which is a well known species that inhibits the burning process of cotton fabrics. These findings reinforce phosphorus and nitrogen containing systems as effective flame retardants for cotton fabrics.

Technical Abstract: Countless hours of research and studies on triazine, phosphonate and their combination have provided insightful information into their flame retardant properties on polymeric systems. However, only limited number of studies shed light on the mechanism of flame retardant cotton fabrics. The purpose of this research is to gain an understanding of the thermal degradation process of two triazine-phosphonate derivatives on cotton fabric. The investigation included the preparation of diethyl 4,6-dichloro-1,3,5-triazin-2-ylphosphonate (TPN1) and dimethyl (4,6-dichloro-1,3,5-triazin-2-yloxy) methyl phospho- nate (TPN3), their application on fabric materials and the studies of their thermal degradation mechanism. The studies examined chemical components in both solid and gas phases by using attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis coupled with Fourier transform infrared (TGA-FTIR) spectroscopy, and 31P solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (31P solid state NMR) in addition to the computational studies of bond dissociation energy (BDE). Despite a few differences in their decomposition, TPN1 and TPN3 produce one common major product that is believed to help reduce the flammability of the fabric.