Effect of Heterogeneous Deacetylation on the Properties of Northern Shrimp Chitin and Chitosan

Abstract

The effect of alkaline treatment of shrimp chitin on the molecular weight, the degree of deacetylation and degree of crystallinity of the resulting chitosan is studied. The viscosity of chitosan solutions from repeatedly deacetylated chitin is studied. It is shown that repeated treatment of chitin/chitosan with alkali causes the destruction of polysaccharide macromolecules. After four-time deacetylation and one-time deacetylation of chitin/chitosan for four hours, the molecular weight of the polysaccharide decreases by ten times. The maximum degree of chitosan deacetylation under experimental conditions was 92.0 -92.5%. The diffractograms of chitin and chitosan from the Northern shrimp are of the form typical for samples containing an amorphous phase in addition to a crystalline phase. The degree of crystallinity of chitin from Northern shrimp was 40.8%, of chitosan samples after one-, two-, and three-time deacetylation was 62-65%. For a sample of chitosan obtained after four-time deacetylation, recrystallization, and drying in a freeze dryer, the degree of crystallinity is close to the degree of crystallinity of shrimp chitin. The investigated acetic acid chitosan solutions with a concentration of 5% (wt.) and the chitosan molecular weight of 250, 160 and 130 kDa in their rheological properties are liquid-like non-Newtonian systems, their viscosity decreasing with increasing shear stress. After four-time deacetylation of chitin, the viscosity of chitosan solutions practically does not change with increasing shear stress, which apparently can be due to a significant decrease in the molecular weight of chitosan under these conditions.