Fragmentation of chitosan by acids.

Fragmentation of chitosan in aqueous solution by hydrochloric acid was investigated. The kinetics of fragmentation, the number of chain scissions, and polydispersity of the fragments were followed by viscometry and size exclusion chromatography. The chemical structure and the degree of N-acetylation (DA) of the original chitosan and its fragments were examined by (1)H NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The kinetic data indicates that the reaction was of first order. The results of polydispersity and the DA suggest that the selected experimental conditions (temperature and concentration of acid) were appropriate to obtain the fragments having the polydispersity and the DA similar to or slightly different from those of the original one. A procedure to estimate molecular weight of fragments as well as the number of chain scissions of the fragments under the experimental conditions was also proposed.