Fluorescent whitening agent - fluorescent whitening agent

Also known as fluorescent white dyes. They are colorless or pale yellow compounds that emit blue to purple fluorescence, making the fiber's inherent pale yellow color (400 to 450 nm) appear pure white. Apart from emitting fluorescence, they can be considered the same as general dyes, and therefore have structures such as direct dye type for cotton, acid dye type for wool and nylon, and disperse dye type for polyester fibers and acrylic fibers. As shown in the diagram, there are many different chemical structures known. In addition to fibers, they are also used in paper, synthetic detergents, soap, cosmetics, synthetic resins, leather, paints, etc. There are approximately 70 commercially available brands.

Source: Morikita Publishing "Chemical Dictionary (2nd Edition)" Information about the Chemical Dictionary 2nd Edition

蛍光白色染料ともいう．青～紫色の蛍光を発することにより，繊維固有の淡黄色(400～450 nm)を補色して純白に見せる，それ自身無色，あるいは淡黄色の化合物．蛍光を発すること以外は，一般染料と同様に考えられ，したがって木綿用は直接染料型，羊毛，ナイロン用は酸性染料型，ポリエステル繊維，アクリル繊維用は分散染料型などの構造をもっている．図示したようにいろいろの化学構造のものが知られている．繊維以外に，紙，合成洗剤，せっけん，化粧品，合成樹脂，皮革，塗料などにも用いられる．市販銘柄約70種類．

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