trying to find suitable solvent for chitosan. tried H2O2 but polysaccharide degrades. Im looking for >10% solid content in solution + low viscosity. Tried a large range of acids eg meth/ethanoic, maleic, L-ascorbic, lactic and HCl, all of which had high viscosity with low solid content. Hydrogen Peroxide appeared to be a good solvent, however upon further revision I found that this was actually degrading the polymer rendering it useless for what I am working on. Does anybody have any ideas on how I can achieve a low viscosity solution (about 1200 cP) with at least 10% solid chitosan granules dissolved with no or as little degradation as possible?
What is the molecular weight/viscosity of the chitosan that you are using? Try using a low molecular weight chitosan with 1% acetic acid as the solvent.
Try to use 1% acetic acid. Chitosan is soluble in that acid.
Please try acetic acid. You may vary your concentration of acetic acid to get what u want.
Dear Ben,
The polymer viscosity in solution will depends on the molecular weight of the polymer used. Then you will have to know that this is an intrinsic property of each polymer that could be change only if you degrade (hydrolyze) the polymer by different ways (chemical, mechanical, enzymatic) as you already found with H2O2. As a rule the higher the molecular weigh of polymers the higher its solution viscosity.
At this point you could use lower molecular weight chitosan as Sruthi previously suggest you. But there are low molecular weight chitosan and also chitosan oligomers with a whole range of properties and applications depending on the molecular weight (degree of polymerization) and degree of acetylation of each sample. Then you will have to choose wisely depending on the application you want to use this polysaccharide.
For low molecular weight chitosan you can use acetic acid 1% (v/v) to dissolve your material but again as higher the polymer concentration in solution you will obtain higher solution viscosity. Chitosan oligomers will be the best solution if you will need higher polymer concentration with low viscosity. However, only you know if this material apply for your application. Otherwise you will have to find a balance among chitosan polymer concentration and its solution viscosity for your application e.g. low molecular weight chitosan at 5% (w/v) dissolved in acetic acid 1% (v/v).
regards,
Gustavo
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