Natural Dyes

Natural dyes were exclusively used for colouring until the middle of the nineteenth century. But, due to the accidental discovery of the first synthetic dye by W.H. Perkin in1856, and a number of other synthetic dyes in the latter part of nineteenth century, their use reduced considerably by the beginning of twentieth century. It was however realized during the last decade of 20th century, that synthetic dyes are harmful to the environment. Thus, there is now a renewed interest in the revival of natural dyes. This book consists of nine chapters each describing the different aspects of natural dyes. The first chapter gives a concise description of the forests and the goods and services provided by them. Natural dye is an important forest produce and used by people since time immemorial. The second chapter gives a brief description of the history of natural dyes, while their classification is described in the third chapter. An exhaustive list of the dye yielding plant species along with the two versatile dyes, namely, lac, indigo and herbal colours are described in the fourth chapter. Chapter five deals with the chemistry of natural dyes, while the mordants used for fixing dyes are given in chapter six. Dyeing methods are described in chapter seven, determination of the colourfastness properties of dyed samples and colour measurement in the eighth chapter, and the theory of dyeing is covered in the ninth chapter. This book provides a simple, concise coverage of natural dyes. It will be useful to academics, scientists, industrialists, researchers, students and people interested to know about the use of natural dyes, and will contribute to environmental protection.