Preparation of N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine by Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Amorphous Chitin

Abstract

Several crude enzymes including cellelase Tv, hemicellulase and lipase, papain as well as cellulase Ac were examined for the effective production of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) from amorphous α-chitin. Among the tested crude enzymes, cellulase Tv was found to be the most effective for directly degrading amorphous α-chitin to GlcNAc. High yield of GlcNAc was achieved by choosing the optimum hydrolytic conditions at pH 4.5 and 37°C. By gradually adding, in three tantamount cases, the amount of cellulase Tv to amorphous α-chitin, the yield of GlcNAc reach 55.0%.