Vinyl Sulfone Fiber Reactive Dyes

Vinyl Sulfone dyes, also known as Remazol dyes after the

trademarked name under which they were first introduced, are
a type of fiber reactive dye that is often used in silk painting.
Although silk paintings made with vinyl sulfone dyes are
usually steamed to set the dye, the dyes can also be "batch
cured" at warm room temperatures.
Unlike some fiber reactive dyes, vinyl sulfones can be used as
true reactive dyes on cotton, silk, AND wool. Of course, wool
must never be subjected to the high pHs used in dyeing
cotton, and it requires high heat, unlike cotton. Like all dyes
that work on cotton, vinyl sulfones can also be used on linen,
hemp, and other cellulose (plant) fibers.
Vinyl sulfone dyes are a type of fiber reactive dye that is less
reactive than, for example, Procion MX dyes, and thus they
both last longer in solution in water, and require more heat for
the reaction with the fiber. This means that they can actually
be purchased already dissolved in water, unlike Procion MX or
Cibacron F dyes, eliminating the one slightly hazardous step of
working with powdered dyes.
The lower reactivity of Vinyl sulfones is not the whole story,
however. Unlike Drimarene K and Cibacron F dye, Vinyl
sulfones contain a 'masking' group, on the reactive part of the
molecule, which prevents them from reacting with the dye
water until it is removed. This makes the dyes much longer
lasting in water! The masking group of at least some of the
Remazols can be removed at high pH (i.e, with soda ash or pot
ash or sodium silicate), which is suitable for cotton, or, if the
dye solution is heated to a high enough temperature, at mildly
acid pH, which is suitable for wool. The latter is a slower
process. [Thanks to Doug Wilson for describing this on the
Dyerslist mailing list; he referenced the book Wool Dyeing,
edited by David M. Lewis and published by the Society of
Dyers and Colorists.]

Table of Contents:

How to use Vinyl sulfone fiber reactive dyes

Where to buy specific single-hue unmixed Remazol dyes
About the Chemistry of the Vinyl Sulfone dyes
Chemical Resist Dyeing

How to use Vinyl sulfone fiber reactive dyes

Keep it warm!
If you are omitting the heat-setting step altogether, using soda
ash as when dyeing with Procion MX dye, it is best to place the
freshly dyed items in a warm place overnight, ideally between
between 40 and 60 degrees Celsius (104 and 140 degrees
Fahrenheit), though somewhat cooler temperaures can be
used. You can achieve this by placing buckets or sealed bags
containing your dyed items in a sinkful of hot water, or by
placing your items on waterproof sheeting on top of a heating
pad or under an electric blanket, or on top of the refrigerator
in a warm kitchen. You can wrap your items to keep them
damp (and/or use urea when mixing your dyes), and place
them in a slightly warm oven. Or you can seal them in plastic
and microwave them briefly, until the fabric is hot to the touch.
(Sealing in plastic keeps the microwave clean, and it keeps
your fabric from drying out, so it does not burn. Watch closely
so that the steam inside does not burst the plastic.
Look at the pros' instructions
Request instructions from your supplier, or see the helpful web
pages below. Instructions may not be completely
interchangeable, as it is possible that the dye solutions sold by
the different companies may be different in concentration!

The old (now discontinued) Createx Colors Liquid Fiber

Dyes included instructions for tie-dyeing and immersion
dyeing with soda ash without heat fixing, and for hand
painting and silk screening with heat setting
(microwaving, baking, or steaming)

PRO Chemical & Dye's

o Instructions for Solid Shade/Immersion
Dyeing (heating dye bath to 140 degrees F (60 C)
for 60 minutes)
o Painting & Printing/Direct Application (steaming or
after-setting with PRO Fix LHF or clothes dryer heatsetting [the latter requires urea to retain moisture in
the dye])
o Solid Shade/Immersion on Wool (boiling for 45
minutes)
Batik Oetoro says to use the same instructions as for
their fiber reactive Drimarene K dyes, but with
temperatures of 40C to 60C (104F to 140F); their
methods for Drimarene K include immersion dyeing with
dyebath between 35 and 50 degrees C, or 95-122 F;
after-fixing with Drimafix; tie-dyeing; and drying with
hair dryer.
Jacquard Red Label Silk Colors Instructions (steam-set
instructions only)
Tobasign
o multi-language tie-dye instructions
slideshow (mixing Tobafix with dye and water, no
heat)
o Instructions for fabric painting and immersion
dyeing (fixing at room temperature with Tobafix)

Where to buy specific single-hue unmixed Remazol dyes

Different brand names are applied to the vinyl sulfone dyes
for sale. In the US, they are available as PRO Chemical &
Dye's Liquid Reactive Dyes, as Createx Colors Liquid Fiber
Dyes (now discontinued), and as Jacquard Red Label Silk
Colors. In Australia, they are sold under the name of Remazol
dyes by Batik Oetoro and by KraftKolour. In Europe, they are
sold as Granat Remazolfarver by Granat Farvekompagniet, in
Denmark, as Tobasign Dyes by Tobasign, in Spain, and as
Ostazin V dyes by Synthesia in the Czech Republic.

The Remazol brand name is owned by Dystar, which still

manufacturers many vinyl sulfone dyes. Vinyl sulfone dyes are
also manufactured by other companies now. Dystar has
obtained Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification (PDF) for many
of its Remazol and Procion HE dyes.
Notice, in the table below, that each company carries different
Remazol dyes. You may find that only one company carries
your very favorite dye color. A similar color can often be mixed
from other primaries, but it may have slightly different
properties, or be less glowingly bright, or perhaps less subtle.
In most cases, they also sell a number of other useful colors,
which they have blended from two or more other colors. These
can be good to use, but to truly know the properties of your
dyes, you must consider them individually. You can also mix
any color you wish, if you start with a good set of primaries,
ideally including colors that closely approximate the cyan,
magenta, and yellow widely used as printer's primaries, plus
some dull, dark colors to be used in mixing dark, deep shades.
Unlike most types of fiber reactive dyes that can be used at
room remperature, the vinyl sulfones include a couple of
single-color unmixed blacks.
Each of these dye companies sells the dye directly to the public
through their web site, except for Createx Colors and
Jacquard, both of which sell through multiple retailers. One
supplier for Createx Colors is Dick Blick; one supplier for
Jacquard Red Label Silk Colors is Jalt.com, and they can be
special-ordered from Dharma Trading Company. [Createx
Remazols have been discontinued from all sources, although
there was a report from a user that one can still buy them by
calling the Createx company directly.]
Note that not every dye in each line of dyes is of this dye
class. Jacquard includes one Procion H-E bifunctional dye as
their Red Label Magenta. PRO Chemical & Dye's Fuchsia LR308
uses instead a magenta from the Levafix line, Levafix Brilliant
Red E-6BA, which I find very beautiful. ProChem's Sun Yellow
and Golden Yellow are of undisclosed dye types (their 'Golden

Yellow' is more tan than golden in color). Although Dylon

Permanent, Dylon Washing Machine, and Dylon Hand dyes all
contain mostly Drimarene K type dyes, their Black contains
mostly Reactive Black 5, a highly satisfactory Remazol type
dye.
Recommended mixing primaries in the Jacquard Red Label
line are yellow, magenta, cyan, and black; their web site
includes a table for mixing different colors from these four.
Don't use ProChem's 'Golden Yellow' as a mixing primary,
because it is a tan color, not yellow, to my eye; it should be
very useful as a toning mixer, however, for dulling down overly
bright color mixtures. ProChem's 'Sun Yellow' is a good bright
color for mixing, as are their Intense Blue and Turquoise; I
personally prefer their Fuchsia to their Mixing Red as a
primary.
In the table below, "JR" stands for Jacquard Red Label Dyes;
"BO" stands for Batik Oetoro; "KK" for Kraftkolour; "GF" stands
for Granat Farvekompagniet; and SYN stands for Synthesia.
"PRO" stands for PRO Chemical & Dye. Note that Jacquard Red
Label Silk Colors also include many other colors, which are,
according to the manufacturers, mixtures of two or more
colors of dye.
Jacquard Green Label Silk Colors contain the same dyes as
Jacquard Red Label Silk Colors, but in the Green Label dyes,
the concentration is half that of the Red Label dyes, and the
Green Label dye mixtures have been acidified and appear to
contain some (unidentified) chemicals not found in the Red
Label dye mixtures. Jacquard Red Label Silk Colors are more
dilute than ProChem's Liquid Fiber Reactive Dyes; Jacquard
Red Label Black 759 is approximately one-fourth the strength
of ProChem's Black 50% LR604.
The notes in the right hand column, below, are merely points
of interest. I do not believe that the metals contained in a few
of the dyes amount to enough to cause problems with disposal
in home septic systems. It's interesting, to me, to note that

blues often contain copper, since copper compounds

themselves are often beautiful blues.
code

CI name

other names

retailers

notes

Yellow GR

Reactive
Yellow 15

Gelb GR

BO, GF, SYN

Yellow RTN

Reactive
Yellow 24

Gelb RTN

GF

Yellow GL

Reactive
Yellow 37

Brill. Gelb GL
JVS 600 Bright
Yellow

GF, KK, JVS

Yellow FG

Reactive
Yellow 42

SYN

Yellow R

Reactive
Yellow 77

BO, GF

Yellow 3R

JVS 601 Golden

JVS
Yellow

dischargeable (?); JVS

fair/good disch;
fair lightfastness

Yellow R4GL

Reactive
Yellow 160

Brill. Gelb 4GL

GF

dischargeable (?)

Yellow 4G

Reactive
Yellow 186

SYN

dischargeable (?)

Orange 2R

Reactive
Orange 7

Orange 3R

Reactive
Orange 16

Orange 2G

Reactive
Orange 72

Orange 2RL

Reactive
Orange 82

Golden
Yellow RNL

Reactive
Orange 107

Bordeaux B

Reactive
Red 49

Rubine CB

Reactive
Red 60

Brill. Orange 3R;

Red Label 706
JR, BO, GF, KK,
Apricot;
PRO, SYN
Strong Orange
LR202

no metals

incl. in PRO Leaf Green;

JVS fair/good disch.;
excellent lightfastness

dischargeable (?)

dischargeable (?)

KK
Bordox B;
Red Label 717
JR, JV, GF
Digital
JV 604 Bordeaux

JVS 20%
strength

Red C2G

Reactive
Red 106

Red R2G

see above? JV 602 Red

Red BS

Reactive
Red 111

Red 3BSA

Red 5B

Reactive
Red 35

Procion H-E
8B

Reactive
Red 152

Levafix
Brilliant
Red E-6BA

25% strength;
fair/good disch.;
fair lightfastness

JVS 603 Magenta JVS

SYN
JR

reactive red #152 is

actually a binfunctional
dye, Procion H-E 8B, not
a vinyl sulfone

Reactive
Red 159

BO

not a vinyl sulfone: found

in PRO LR 308 Fuchsia
and mixtures

Red 6B

Reactive
Red 174

BO

Red RF3B

Reactive
Red 180

Brill. Rot F3B

GF, KK

Red RB

Reactive
Red 198

Red VS-MRBL
Mixing Red
LR305

PRO, SYN

Red Violet R

Reactive
Violet 4

Violet 5R

Reactive
Violet 5

Brill. Violet 5R;

Red Label 718
Purple

JR, BO, GF, KK

,SYN

non-dischargeable (?)

Blue R
(Special)

Reactive
Blue 19

Red Label 722

Royal Blue;
Intense blue
LR406
JV 606 Blue?

JV?, JR, BO, GF,

KK, PRO, SYN

no metals; nondischargeable (?)

Blue R?

see above? JVS 606 Blue?

JVS

good disch;
fair lightfastness

Turquoise
Blue G

Reactive
Blue 21

Turquoise
Blue GA

JV 605
see above?
Turquoise?

JVS

Blue 3R

Reactive

GF

Red Label 715

Magenta

BO, GF, KK, PRO,

Trkisblau G133
SYN, JV?

Blau 3R

no metals; dischargeable
(?)

contains copper
PRO describes as
"copper phthalo- cyanine
dye solution"; nondischargeable (?)
contains copper
fair/good nondischargeability;
poor lightfastness

Blue 28
Green 6B

Reactive
Blue 38

Dark Blue HR

Reactive
Blue 89

Blue 3G

Reactive
Blue 98

Navy Blue
GG

Reactive
Blue 203

Navy Blue 6G

Reactive
Blue 218

Blue BB

Reactive
Blue 220

Navy Blue
RGB

Reactive
Blue 250

JV 607 Navy

Brown GR

Reactive
Brown 18

Braun GR

Black B

Black RL

Black N

BO, KK

Brill. Blau BB133 GF, KK

BO
contains copper

50% strength;
good disch.;
fair lightfastness
BO, GF, KK

non-dischargeable (?)

Reactive
Black 5

Schwarz B;
Red Label 759
Black

JR, BO, GF, KK,

PRO, SYN

no metals; some versions

might also contain a tiny
quantity of an unidentified
dye; also found in Dylon
Permanent dye "12
Black"; dischargeable (?);

Reactive
Black 31

Schwarz RL

GF

JV Black 608

GF

JVS: 40%
strength
good disch.
very poor
lightfastness

- Back to top -

About the Chemistry of the Vinyl Sulfone dyes

Here is a quote from Cellulosics Dyeing (ed. John Shore, 1995,
Society of Dyers and Colourists), p 200:
The Remazol (Hoesht) vinylsulfone dyes, containing the
characteristic 2-suphatoethylsulphonyl precursor grouping, are

intermediate in reactivity between the high-reactivity

heterocyclic systems, such as dichlorotriazone [Procion MX
type] or difluropyrimidine, and the low-reactivity ranges, such
as aminochlorotriazine [Procion H] or trichloropyrimidine.
Exhaust dyeing temperatures between 40 and 60 degrees C
may be chosen, depending on pH, since caustic soda [NaOH] is
often selected to bring about alkaline hydrolysis of the
precursor sulphate ester. [Use "ph" in "sulphate" if you're
British, "f" if American.] These dyes are applicable by a wide
variety of batchwise and continuous processes. The
substantivity [tendency to cling to the fiber even when
unreacted] of many of these dyes is markedly lower than that
of typical haloheterocycloic dyes [eg Procion MX or Cibacron
F]. Not only has the vinylsulphone group, unlike the
heterocyclic ring systems, little if any inherent affinity for
cellulose, but the terminal sulphato group enhances the
aqueous solubility of the precursor form before 1,2-elimination
to the vinylsulphone. In contrast to the haloheterocyclic
systems, the dye-fibre bonds formed by the vinylsulphone
dyes are at their weakest under alkaline conditions.
I.e., use temperatures between 40 and 60 C (104 and 140 F),
and use alkaline conditions (high pH, as usual with fiber
reactive dyes). High pH *might* work for discharging. It
should resist acid perspiration better than Procion MX or
Cibacron F dyes, if that's a problem for you. It should be vastly
easier to wash out of the fabric than Procion MX or Cibacron F
dyes. Note: vinyl sulfone dyes should be rinsed in cool water to
remove auxiliary chemicals and normalize pH before it is rinsed
in hot water; an initial rinse in hot water may break some of
the bonds between dye and fiber.
structure, if available
(click on image
for enlarged view)

CI name

C.I.
Reactive
Blue
220, aka
Remazol
Br. Blue
BB

chemical name

Cuprate(4-), [4,5-dihydro-4-[[8-h
7-[[2-hydroxy-5-methoxy-4-[[2(sulfooxy)ethyl]sulfonyl]phenyl]a
sulfo-2-naphthalenyl]azo]-5-oxo
sulfophenyl)-1H- pyrazole-3carboxylato(6-)]-, sodium

[2,7-naphthalenedisulfonic acid,
amino-5- hydroxy-3,6-bis((4-((2Reactive
(sulfooxy)ethyl)sulfonyl)phenyl)a
Black 5
tetrasodium salt] (CAS Reg. No.
17095-24-8)

[copper, (29H,31Hphthalocyaninato(2-)- N29,N30,

Reactive 2)-, sulfo((4-((2Blue 21 sulfooxy)ethyl)sulfonyl)phenyl)a
sulfonyl derivs] (CAS Reg. No. 7
92-0)

2-Naphthalenesulfonic acid, 6Reactive

(acetylamino)- 4-hydroxy- 3-((4Orange
(sulfooxy)ethyl) sulfonyl)phenyl)
16
disodium salt

[2-naphthalenesulfonic acid, 7Reactive

(acetylamino)- 4-hydroxy-3-((4-(
Orange
(sulfooxy)ethyl) sulfonyl)phenyl)
78
CAS Reg. No. 68189-39-9)

[benzensulfonic acid, 4-(4,5-dihy

Reactive ((2- methoxy-5-methyl-4-((2Yellow (sulfooxy)ethyl) sulfonyl)phenyl)
15
methyl-5- oxo-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-]
Reg. No. 60958-41-0)

[2-anthracene-sulfonic acid, 1-a

Reactive 9,10- dihydro-9,10-dioxo-4-((3-((
Blue No. (sulfooxy)ethyl)sulfonyl)phenyl)a
19
disodium salt] (CAS Reg. No. 25
1)

[5-(benzoylamino)-4-hydroxy-3-(
sulfo- 6-((2-(sulfooxy)ethyl)sulfo
Reactive naphthalenyl)azo)-2,7Red 180 naphthalenedisulfonic acid,
tetrasodium salt] (CAS Reg. No.
32-0)

Using Remazol Dyes for Chemical Resist Dyeing

Vinyl sulfone dyes are particularly useful for chemical resist
dyeing, in which two different types of fiber reactive dyes are
used to print foreground and background in different colors.
This technique allows you to print one color right on top of
another color, such as bright yellow figures on a dark blue
background, without having to do a separate discharge step.
One method is to mix either Cibacron F or Procion MX dye with
soda ash and a chemical called BASF Chemical Resist, apply it
to cotton fabric, let it dry, then mix up remazol dye with soda
ash or 'Basilen Fixing Agent', apply it to the same piece of
fabric, and then steam the piece. The result is a design of
Procion MX or Cibacron F dye surrounded by a background of
Remazol dye. The Remazol dye does not react with the fabric
where the chemical resist has been placed.
Sources for instructions

DyersLIST list-owner Pat William provides instructions for

chemical resist dyeing with remazol dyes on the following
pages:

Chemical Resist Process: Two Methods of Working with

Two Different Families of Reactive Dyes [PDF] and
Chemical Resist measurement charts

Her instructions can also be found on the Jacquard Products

website, page one and page two.

Kate Wells gives recipes for chemical resist printing, including

specific recommendations for which Remazol dyes are the best
choices to use, in her book Fabric Dyeing and Printing .
Sources for resist chemicals

The resist chemical used to prevent the vinyl sulfone dyes from
attaching to the fabric is sold by Jacquard Products under the
name Chemical Reactive Resist. Their web site lists four mailorder sources in the US: Binders Art Supplies and Frames,
Fabrics to Dye For, Bates Art & Designs Supply, and Hull's Art
Supply and Framing. The chemical, previously known as BASF
Chemical Reactive Resist, is also available in industrial
quantities from BTC Specialty Chemical Distribution.
Another chemical, Basilen Fixing Agent, is often substituted in
this method for the soda ash otherrwise used to fix the fiber
reactive dyes to the fabric, with the advantage of permitting a
longer wait time before steaming.