Deacetylation reactions of commercial chitin were carried out in aqueous sodium hydroxide solution at 115°C for 6 hours. The effect from additives (sodium borohydride or anthraquinone) and of bubbling inert gas (nitrogen or argon) on the characteristics of deacetylated samples were evaluated. Average degrees of acetylation and intrinsic viscosity were determined by ¹H NMR spectroscopy and capillary viscometry, respectively. X-ray diffraction was employed to evaluate changes in crystallinity and infrared spectroscopy was used to monitor structural changes due to deacetylation. The bubbling of inert gas during the deacetylation reaction resulted in more crystalline samples of chitosan. Deacetylations carried out without any additive produced slightly more deacetylated chitosans but they were severely depolymerized. The depolymerization process was much less important when sodium borohydride was added to the reaction medium but the addition of anthraquinone and the bubbling of nitrogen, or argon, did not have any effect, this suggests that oxygen is not required for depolymerization.
Chitin; deacetylation; chitosan; sodium borohydride; anthraquinone
