Preparation and Characterization of Chitosan obtained from Pacific White Shrimp Shells and its in vitro Antifungal Activity

Abstract

In this article, a method for the processing of chitosan from Pacific white shrimp shells is developed which involves three steps viz. demineralization, deproteinization, and deacetylation. The samples of chitosan with more than 90% degree of deacetylation (DD%) were obtained by FTIR. This indicated that the current processing method of shrimp shells was beneficial for chitosan production. The morphology of chitosan sample was determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns exhibited two peaks of crystalline character approximately at 10º and 20º (2θ). The effect of 0.1% (w/v) of chitosan on the growth of Penicillium digitatum was tested by an in vitro assay and the results showed an almost complete inhibition (98% ± 0.56).