Review of the application of ionic liquids as solvents for chitin
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Malgorzata M. Jaworska
,
Tomasz Kozlecki
Abstract
Chitin is one of the most abundant biopolymers, but due to its high crystallinity, it is completely insoluble in most organic and inorganic solvents. Chitin is soluble only in solvents that can destroy intersheet and intrasheet H-bonds, and many of these solvents are toxic, corrosive, nondegradable, or mutagenic. Because of these drawbacks, there is a search for more environmentally friendly solvents for chitin. It has been shown that ionic liquids (ILs) can dissolve chitin at elevated temperatures (80°–110°C) or with application of microwave irradiation. The highest solubility of chitin in an IL was about 20% (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate), whereas chitin was shown to be insoluble in 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium formate. Dissolved chitin can be regenerated by mixing with water or methanol, where the polymer precipitates from the solution. X-ray diffraction patterns of native polymer and precipitates have been compared and only small changes in crystallinity have been observed. In addition, Fourier transform infrared spectra remained similar for both forms of chitin, native and regenerated. Presented data hold great promise for the improvement of the chemistry of chitin and open new routes for chemical and enzymatic modifications of this polymer.
©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Application of Vogel-Tamman-Fulcher (VTF) model to polythiophene composite thin films
- Mini Review
- Review of the application of ionic liquids as solvents for chitin
- Original Articles
- Preparation of rigid polyurethane foams with powder filler
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- Synthesis of well-defined clay encapsulated poly(styrene-co-butyl acrylate) nanocomposite latexes via reverse atom transfer radical polymerization in miniemulsion
- Batch-foamed biodegradable polylactide acid/organic modified montmorillonite clays and polylactide/sericite powder nanocomposites
- Physical, chemical, thermal, and mechanical assessments of Roselle-reinforced composites
- Improvement of physicomechanical properties of grafted coir fiber with ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate: effect of UV radiation
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