Progress in technologies for functional modifications of cotton fibers

In order to develop applications of cotton fibers in the field of biomedical materials,this paper summarized the research progress in the functional modifications of cotton fibers and described the technologies, product performances and applications of oxidization, etherification, branch copolymerization,chelation and other methods for modifying the chemical structure of cellulose. Results showed that oxidized cellulose and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose fibers obtained from oxidized and etherified cotton have excellent haemostatic and absorption properties, while antimicrobial, antiultraviolet,catalyzing,slow releasing and other functions of the modified cotton fibers can be obtained by attaching polysaccharides,proteins,peptides,enzymes,cyclodextrins,lipids,metal ions and other biologically active materials. The functionally modified cotton fibers are highly valuable in the fields of biomedical materials and functional medical textile products.