Moist heat treatment on physicochemical change of chitosan salt films

Chitosan salt films were prepared by casting method using acetic, citric, formic, glycolic, lactic, malic and propionic acids as solubilizers. The films were then exposed to moist heat at 60 degrees C and 75% relative humidity for several time intervals. The influence of moist heat treatment on their physicochemical characteristics was investigated. All freshly prepared films were soluble in deionized water and HCl buffer solution. Chitosan citrate film also dissolved in phosphate buffer solution. After treatment, the percentage of water sorption and dissolution of chitosan films in three media were gradually decreased. Longer alkyl group and less carboxyl and hydroxyl groups in the molecule of organic acid resulted in lower percentage of water sorption and dissolution of treated films. The FT-IR spectra revealed that there was amide formation between chitosan and organic acids after treatment especially in chitosan acetate and propionate films. However, the absorption peaks of ammonium ['NH3+] and free carboxylate groups were still remained in treated chitosan citrate and malate films. Change in the degree of crystallinity from powder X-ray diffractogram and thermal characteristic from DSC thermogram were also related to the water sorption and dissolution of films.