Effect of Degree of Deacetylation and Molecular Weight of Chitosan Extracted From Various Marine Sources on Its Applications

The biopolysaccharide is characterized as either chitin or chitosan according to the degree of deacetylation (DD) which is determined by the proportion of D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. Structurally chitosan is straight chain copolymer composed of D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-Dglucosamine which is being obtained by the partial deacetylation of chitin. Chitosan solubility, biogedradability, reactivity, and adsorption of many substrates depend on the amount of protonated amino groups in the polymeric chain, therefore on the proportion of acetylated and non-acetylated D-glucosamine units. DD and distribution of acetyl groups along the polymer chain play crucial role in chitosans molecular weight characteristics and activity. DD is determined by conductometric titration methods and molecular weight determined by Ubbelohde capillary viscometry. Both are found to be effective.