1. Isolation, Characterization and Properties of Prawn Chitosan

    Ram1 Prasad Baral1,2,3, Rameshwar Adhikari 2

    1.Department of Chemistry, Tri-Chandra Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
    2.Central Department of Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipiur, Kathmandu, Nepal.

    Abstract: Chitin is one of the most abundant natural resources which can be easily extracted used as material for several useful applications. The present work aims at preparation and characterization of chitosan which is derived from prawn shells by a chemical process involving demineralization (DM), deproteinization (DP), decolorization (DC), and deacetylation (DA). The samples were successfully prepared using standard experimental protocols and were characterized by different techniques such as electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy. Chitin powder appeared to be made up of microscopic globules of the N-acetyl glucosamine macromolecules with embedded sheet-like crystalline structures which become more pronounced after the treatment with concentrated alkali solution due to the deacetylation process.  The future works should focus on the quantification of application of chitosan to prepare blends for biomaterials applications.

    Keywords: biopolymer, chitin, chitosan, DDA, FTIR and SEM.

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