Phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol Liposomes as Vehicles for Anthraquinone Disperse Dyes in Wool Dyeing

The use of liposomes containing increasing amounts of cholesterol as carriers for anthraquinone disperse dyes in the dyeing of wool fibres is described. Multilamellar lipid vesicles of egg phosphatidylcholine and containing C.I. Disperse Violet 1 at different phosphatidylcholine-cholesterol relative concentrations were used. Controlled exhaustion of dye on the wool was achieved, which was directly dependent on the liposome lipid concentration. The optimum application of these systems, both in terms of dyebath exhaustion and total amount of dye bonded to the wool samples, was directly correlated with the dye/lipid weight ratio for the maximum level of dye encapsulation efficiency