Fibres (cotton, jute, hemp)

This slide includes the detail study of Fibres (Biologicalsource, chemical constituents, method of preparation, uses) used in pharmacy

1. FIBRES (Cotton, Jute, Hemp) Prepared By: Sujata Assistant Professor

2. Fibers may be defined as any hair-like raw material directly obtainable from an animal, vegetable, or mineral source and convertible into nonwoven fabrics such as paper or, after spinning into yarns, into woven cloth. CLASSIFICATION AND PROPERTIES: Natural fibers can be classified according to their origin. 1. The vegetable, or cellulose-base, class includes such important fibers as cotton, flax, and jute. 2. The animal, or protein-base, fibers include wool, mohair, and silk.

3. 3. Regenerated and synthetic fibers include Nylon, Terylene , Orlon , Viscose, Alginate fibers, etc. 4. An important fiber in the mineral class is asbestos. The vegetable fibers can be divided into smaller groups, based on their origin within the plant. Cotton, kapok, and coir are examples. Chemically, all vegetable fibers consist mainly of cellulose.

4. The animal fibers consist exclusively of proteins and, with the exception of silk.

5. 1 . COTTON Synonyms: Raw cotton, purified cotton, absorbent cotton Biological Source: It consists of the seeds of the cultivated species of the Gossypium herbaceum and other species of Gossypium ( G. hirsutum , G. barbadense ) belonging to family Malvaceae . Geographical Source: United States, Egypt, some parts of Africa, and India

6. HISTORY: 1. Gossypium herbaceum or the African-West Asian cotton: - Gossypium herbaceum is the indigenous species in India. - It is widely cultivated in, Afghanistan. Turkey, North Africa, Spain, Ukraine, Turkestan, and China - Height is 2–6 feet - It requires warm weather to ripen its seeds. 2. Gossypium arboreum or the Pakistani-Indian cotton: - It is native to Northwest India and Pakistan and first produced and used by the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley.

7. 3 . Gossypium barbadense or South American cotton: It gives the long-stapled cotton. 4. Gossypium hirsutum or Mexican cotton: - G. hirsutum are found in coastal vegetation of Central and Southern North America and also in the West Indies.

8. CULTIVATION, COLLECTION, AND PREPARATION: 1. Cotton is cultivated by means of seed sowing method. 2. The seeds are sown in rows of about 4–5 feet in distance. 3. fertilizers are provided timely. 4. The capsule consists of three to five seeds and is covered with hairs. The bolls are collected when ripe, separated from the capsule, dried, and subjected to the ginning press for processing. 5. the trichomes are separated from the seeds by ginning process. 6. Short hairs are used in the manufacturing inferior grade cotton wool, whereas long hairs are used for preparation of cloth

9. 7 . The seeds remain after the removal of hair is used for the preparation of cotton seed oil 8 . The raw cotton so obtained is full of impurities like the coloring matter and fatty material. 9. further purification is done by treating it with dilute soda ash solution under pressure for about 15 hours. 10. It is then bleached and washed properly, dried, and packed. The packed cotton is then sterilized using radiations.

10. DESCRIPTION: 1. Color- White 2. Odor - Odorless 3. Taste - Tasteless 4. Shape- fine filaments like that of hair, which are soft and unicellular. 5. Size – length-2.2–4.6 cm and diameter-20–35 micron

11. CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS: 1. It consists of 90% of cellulose, 7–8% of moisture, wax, fat and oil 0.5% and cell content about 0.5%. 2. Purified cotton has almost cellulose and 6–7% of moisture.

12. USES: 1. Cotton is used as a filtering medium and in surgical dressings. 2. Absorbent cotton absorbs blood, pus, mucus, and prevents infections in wounds

13. 2.JUTE Synonym : Gunny. Biological Source: It consists of phloem fibers from the stem of - Corchorus capsularis Linn - C. olitorius Linn - C. cunninghamii - C. junodi Family- Tiliaceae . GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCE: West Bengal and Assam.

14. HISTORY: 1. It is native to tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. 2. the chief sources of commercial jute are two Indian species the C. capsularis and C. olitorius . These species are grown in Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys. 3. Pakistan was the world’s lead jute producer. 4. Jute was called the ‘Golden fibre ’ of Bangladesh because it brought the major portion of the foreign currency for the country.

15. DESCRIPTION: 1. They are tall, usually annual herbs, 2. Height is 2–4 m 3. The leaves are alternate, simple, lanceolate, 4. The flowers are small (1.5–3 cm in diameter) and yellow, with five petals; the fruit encloses many seeds in the capsule.

16. PREPARATION: 1. Retting is the process for the preparation of bast fibres . 2. This process is done by three methods, i.e. , microbial (or water), steam, and mechanical process. 3. The microbial or water retting process is the oldest and the popular method employed for the breaking of lignin bond present between parenchyma and sclerenchyma. 4. The breaking of this bond facilitates the easy procurement of skin from its core. the material is washed dried to release pectin bond which makes the hard skin to fine thread like fibres . 5. The jute fibres are graded according to its colour , strength and fibre length 6. The fibres are of white to brown and 1–4 m. long.

17. CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS: 12–13 %, fats, wax, and ash Cellulose (50–53%) hemicellulose (20%) lignin (10–11%) cellulose and lignin (main constituents)

18. USES: 1. Jute is used chiefly to make cloth for wrapping bales of raw cotton, in the preparation of sacks and coarse cloth. 2. They are also woven into curtains, chair coverings, carpets, also in the making of paper. 3. It is even used in the manufacture of tows, padding splints, filtering, and straining medium. 4. Jute is used for the preparation of coarse bags

19. 3 . HEMP Biological Source: Hemp is the pericyclic fibre obtained from Cannabis sativa Linn., belonging to family Cannabinaceae . GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCE: Hemp is grown at any altitude from Norway to the Equator. The raw materials are imported from China, Hungary, America, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, France, and Norway.

20. HISTORY: 1. Cannabis sativa was grouped under taxable goods. 2. Traditionally, Hemp was processed by hand, which required huge labour and was costly. 3. Later a new machine for separating the fibre from the internal woody core (‘ Hurds ’) reduced labour costs. 4. the production of Cannabis sativa was restricted except for industrial use or research purpose.Its production was categorized as illegal for all purpose. 5. the first licenses were granted for growing Hemp of the low THC varieties (THC is the narcotic substance found in the leaves) under the ruling that Hemp is grown for ‘special purposes’ or ‘in the public interest’.

21. CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS: Hemp mainly consists of THC, Cannabinoids and cellulose and lignin. USES: 1. The historically mentioned uses are printing inks, paints, varnishes, paper, bank notes, food, textiles (the original Levi’s jeans were made from Hemp cloth), canvas and building materials. 2. Due to its high tensile strength, bast fibres are ideal for such specialized paper products as: tea bags, industrial filters, currency paper, or cigarette paper.