Dyeing, printing and/or flourescent brightening of textile materials and formulations therefor

The invention comprises compositions and a process for dyeing, printing and/or optical brightening of textile materials in which the material is treated if necessary at elevated temperatures in the presence of an alkaline reacting agent with a dye or optical brightener which has one or more reactive hydrogen atoms attached preferably by nitrogen, oxygen, or sulphur, or which is capable of forming one or more such hydrogen atoms during the process, and with an uncoloured non-brightening polyfunctional compound which contains two or more different reactive substituents which are acryloyl radicals, a -haloacryloyl radicals, chloromethylbenzoyl radicals, 3, 4-dichlorobutane-(2) radicals, 4-chlorobutine-(2) radicals or propionyl radicals, bearing b -position ether groups, thioether groups, sulphone groups, or hydroxyl or mercapto groups esterified with strong oxyacids, and which are preferably attached by nitrogen, and/or the ethylenimine radical which is preferably attached by sulphur, and/or the vinylsulphone radical which is preferably attached by nitrogen or carbon, and/or substituents which are capable of being converted into such radicals during the process. The dyes used may be water soluble or insoluble, many types are specified, and inorganic and organic alkaline reagents may be used. Fabrics treated include, native or regenerated cellulose, cellulose acetate, polyacrylonitrile and its copolymers, polyesters, wool, silk or linear polyamides. Fluorescent brighteners include those of the stilbene, benzimidazole, benzoaxazole and benzothiazole seroes. Specifications 520,199, 805,548, 811,221, 827,568, 831,371, 867,546, 898,318, 900,764, 908,301, 915,457, 916,532, 917,764, 919,179, 924,258 and 942,766 are referred to.