Some PhysicoChemical Properties of Low Molecular Weight Chitosans and their Relationship to Conformation in Aqueous Solution (original) (raw)
2010, Journal of Solution Chemistry
Depolymerization for different time intervals of high molecular weight chitosan using 2 mol⋅L−3 HCl resulted in low molecular weight (LMW) chitosan of 6, 10, 13, 18, and 30 kDa. These were studied using the FT-IR which indicated that the depolymerization process did not influence the chemical structure. LMW chitosan increases the surface tension of water but adjusting the ionic strength (1% NaCl) caused LMW chitosan to reduce the water surface tension. The zeta potential increased with increasing concentration up to a maximum in 1% NaCl solutions. Particle size showed a reduction in size with increasing concentration. This behavior in reduction of particle size was similar to that for the stiffness parameters. These physico-chemical properties showed that LMW chitosan was present in low concentration in its extended form while in higher concentrations it adopted a more contracted form. This change in conformation was confirmed by using molecular modeling where LMW chitosan is ribbon-like to rod-like in solution but becomes rod-like to spherical at the gas–liquid interface.
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