The antibacterial and aroma finishing of cotton fabrics by mentha pipertia extract

Abstract

Mentha piperita is a hybrid mint, a crossbreed between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world. It is occasionally found in the wild with its parent species. This study has been undertaken to apply Mentha piperita bio extract on woven cotton textiles for antibacterial finish. With a view to understand the effect of various functional groups present in the herb, molecular characterisation was done using FTIR. Chemical groups responsible for antibacterial behaviour and the chemical structure of this plant were investigated through GCMS. Mentha piperita treated fabric has greater colour depth (K/S) in comparison to original fabric and it increases with increase in concentration. The mordanted fabrics were immersed in the 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% concentration of ethanolic extracted Mentha piperita for five minutes and padded individually in the presence of citric acid. The fabric was then dried at 80 °C for 3 min and cured at 110 °C for 2 min.The fabrics were evaluated for antibacterial activity against gram negative bacteria (Escherichia.coli) and gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) by Agar Well Diffusion method. Zone of inhibition of 7 mm to 21 mm was measured for the different treated fabrics against gram negative bacteria (Escherichia.coli) when compared with 5 mm to 18 mm for gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus).Zone of inhibition in treated fabrics reveal that the antibacterial effect is more potent against gram negative bacteria. There is zone of inhibition for both gram negative and gram positive bacteria after 20 washing cycles. However, Mentha piperita treated fabric can retain 42.8–71.4% of its initial antibacterial property even after 20 washing cycles. Cotton fabrics also generate fragrance after treatment. Fragrance intensity ratings of 200 respondents have been documented and evaluated.

Keywords:

• Mentha piperita
• zone of inhibition
• gram positive bacteria
• gram negative bacteria
• GCMS
• FTIR

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.