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Published on: February 27, 2021
Characterization and quantification of chitosan extracted from nacre of the abalone Haliotis tuberculata and the
F Zentz1, L Bédouet, M J Almeida
1F.R.E. 2125, CNRS-UBO-MNHN, Chimie et Biologie des Substances Naturelles, 6 rue de l'Université, 29 000 Quimper, France. Zentz@IUTquimp.univ-brest.fr
Abstract:
This study was performed to characterize and quantify chitosan by simple physicochemical methods (infrared spectroscopy and potentiometric measurements). These procedures were validated with well-characterized chitosan before being used to investigate chitosan in nacre of the abalone Haliotis tuberculata and of the giant oyster Pinctada maxima. Potentiometric study revealed a chitosan extract from the nacre of H. tuberculata with a degree of deacetylation of around 88% and an intrinsic pK of 6.5. According to infrared and potentiometric data, a low yield (eta) of extraction was calculated (eta = 0.064%). For experiments performed on the nacre of P. maxima, and in spite of more stringent deacetylation conditions, results suggested that a chitin-protein complex (eta = 0.053%) was isolated rather than chitosan.
