Dyeing of cotton with a bifunctional disulphide bis(ethylsulphone-sulphatoethylsulphone) disazo reactive dye

A new bifunctional disazo reactive dye of a temporarily high molecular structure based on a disulphide bis(ethylsulphone‐sulphatoethylsulphone) reactive system was synthesised and applied to cotton fabric. This dye displayed good primary exhaustion under different neutral exhaustion conditions. The results assessed for the alkaline exhaust dyeing indicate that the disulphide bis(ethylsulphone‐sulphatoethylsulphone) dye showed higher exhaustion and fixation values compared to those obtained with the commercial CI Reactive Black 5. The fastness properties of the disulphide dye were similar to those of the commercial dye. Received: 24 March 2005; Accepted: 15 June 2005.