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You are here: Home > All About Hand Dyeing > About Dyes > Fiber Reactive Dyes > Vinyl Sulfone Fiber Reactive Dyes

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.]

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
- Instructions for Solid Shade/Immersion Dyeing (heating dye bath to 140 degrees F (60 C) for 60 minutes)
- Painting & Printing/Direct Application (steaming or after-setting with PRO Fix LHF or clothes dryer heat-setting [the latter requires urea to retain moisture in the dye])
- 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 40°C to 60°C (104°F to 140°F); 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
- multi-language tie-dye instructions slideshow (mixing Tobafix with dye and water, no heat)
- 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	no metals
Yellow RTN	Reactive Yellow 24	Gelb RTN	GF
Yellow GL	Reactive Yellow 37	Brill. Gelb GL JVS 600 Bright Yellow	GF, KK, JVS	incl. in PRO Leaf Green; JVS fair/good disch.; excellent lightfastness
Yellow FG	Reactive Yellow 42		SYN
Yellow R	Reactive Yellow 77		BO, GF	dischargeable (?)
Yellow 3R	?	JVS 601 Golden Yellow	JVS	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	Brill. Orange 3R; Red Label 706 Apricot; Strong Orange LR202	JR, BO, GF, KK, PRO, SYN	dischargeable (?)
Orange 2G	Reactive Orange 72
Orange 2RL	Reactive Orange 82
Golden Yellow RNL	Reactive Orange 107		KK
Bordeaux B	Reactive Red 49	Bordox B; Red Label 717 Digital JV 604 Bordeaux	JR, JV, GF	JVS 20% strength
Rubine CB	Reactive Red 60
Red C2G	Reactive Red 106
Red R2G	see above?	JV 602 Red		25% strength; fair/good disch.; fair lightfastness
Red BS	Reactive Red 111
Red 3BSA	?	JVS 603 Magenta	JVS
Red 5B	Reactive Red 35		SYN
Procion H-E 8B	Reactive Red 152	Red Label 715 Magenta	JR	reactive red #152 is actually a binfunctional dye, Procion H-E 8B, not a vinyl sulfone
Levafix Brilliant Red E-6BA	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	no metals; dischargeable (?)
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; non-dischargeable (?)
Blue R?	see above?	JVS 606 Blue?	JVS	good disch; fair lightfastness
Turquoise Blue G	Reactive Blue 21	Türkisblau G133	BO, GF, KK, PRO, SYN, JV?	contains copper PRO describes as "copper phthalo- cyanine dye solution"; non-dischargeable (?)
Turquoise Blue GA	see above?	JV 605 Turquoise?	JVS	contains copper fair/good non-dischargeability; poor lightfastness
Blue 3R	Reactive Blue 28	Blau 3R	GF
Green 6B	Reactive Blue 38		BO, KK
Dark Blue HR	Reactive Blue 89
Blue 3G	Reactive Blue 98
Navy Blue GG	Reactive Blue 203	Brill. Blau BB133	GF, KK
Navy Blue 6G	Reactive Blue 218		BO
Blue BB	Reactive Blue 220			contains copper
Navy Blue RGB	Reactive Blue 250	JV 607 Navy		50% strength; good disch.; fair lightfastness
Brown GR	Reactive Brown 18	Braun GR	BO, GF, KK	non-dischargeable (?)
Black B	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 (?);
Black RL	Reactive Black 31	Schwarz RL	GF
Black N	?	JV Black 608	GF	JVS: 40% strength good disch. very poor lightfastness

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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	chemical name
	C.I. Reactive Blue 220, aka Remazol Br. Blue BB	Cuprate(4-), [4,5-dihydro-4-[[8-hydroxy-7-[[2-hydroxy-5-methoxy-4-[[2- (sulfooxy)ethyl]sulfonyl]phenyl]azo]-6-sulfo-2-naphthalenyl]azo]-5-oxo-1-(4-sulfophenyl)-1H- pyrazole-3-carboxylato(6-)]-, sodium
	Reactive Yellow 15	[benzensulfonic acid, 4-(4,5-dihydro-4-((2- methoxy-5-methyl-4-((2-(sulfooxy)ethyl) sulfonyl)phenyl)azo)-3-methyl-5- oxo-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-] (CAS Reg. No. 60958-41-0)
	Reactive Orange 16	2-Naphthalenesulfonic acid, 6-(acetylamino)- 4-hydroxy- 3-((4-((2-(sulfooxy)ethyl) sulfonyl)phenyl)azo)-, disodium salt
	Reactive Orange 78	[2-naphthalenesulfonic acid, 7-(acetylamino)- 4-hydroxy-3-((4-((2-(sulfooxy)ethyl) sulfonyl)phenyl)azo)-] CAS Reg. No. 68189-39-9)
	Reactive Red 180	[5-(benzoylamino)-4-hydroxy-3-((1-sulfo- 6-((2-(sulfooxy)ethyl)sulfonyl)-2-naphthalenyl)azo)-2,7- naphthalenedisulfonic acid, tetrasodium salt] (CAS Reg. No. 98114-32-0)
	Reactive Violet 5	5-(Acetylamino)-4-hydroxy-3-[[2-hydroxy-4-[[2-(sulfooxy)ethyl]sulfonyl]phenyl]azo]-2,7-naphthalenedisulfonic acid trisodium salt [CAS 12226-38-9]
	Reactive Blue No. 19	[2-anthracene-sulfonic acid, 1-amino-9,10- dihydro-9,10-dioxo-4-((3-((2-(sulfooxy)ethyl)sulfonyl)phenyl)amino)-, disodium salt] (CAS Reg. No. 2580-78-1)
	Reactive Blue 21	[copper, (29H,31H-phthalocyaninato(2-)- N29,N30,N31,N32)-, sulfo((4-((2- sulfooxy)ethyl)sulfonyl)phenyl)amino) sulfonyl derivs] (CAS Reg. No. 73049-92-0)
	Reactive Black 5	[2,7-naphthalenedisulfonic acid, 4-amino-5- hydroxy-3,6-bis((4-((2-(sulfooxy)ethyl)sulfonyl)phenyl)azo)-tetrasodium salt] (CAS Reg. No. 17095-24-8)

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 provided instructions for chemical resist dyeing with remazol dyes on two pages whcih were located on the DyersLIST website at Eastern Michigan University. They are no longer there, but the Internet Archive still makes them available. Here are links for the two PDF pages with the instructions:

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

It appears that there are no longer any known sources for buying BASF Chemical Resist. (For speculation as to what chemical(s) may have been contained in BASF Chemical Resist, see the Dye Forum discussions, "chemical resist dyeing with fiber reactive dyes" and "Looking for the Liquid Reactive Resist Agent for Chemical Resist.")

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 mail-order 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 otherwise used to fix the fiber reactive dyes to the fabric, with the advantage of permitting a longer wait time before steaming.

A good alternative for contrasting colors in figure and ground is to first dye the fabric with a reactive dye that discharges well with a reducing discharge agent, then overprint with a vat dye; the reducing agents required for solubilizing the vat dyes will also discharge suitable reactive dyes.