Preparation of chitin nanofibers by surface esterification of chitin with maleic anhydride and mechanical treatment

Yihun Fantahun Aklog; Tomone Nagae; Hironori Izawa; Minoru Morimoto; Hiroyuki Saimoto; Shinsuke Ifuku

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.07.060

Preparation of chitin nanofibers by surface esterification of chitin with maleic anhydride and mechanical treatment

Carbohydr Polym. 2016 Nov 20:153:55-59. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.07.060. Epub 2016 Jul 19.

Authors

Yihun Fantahun Aklog¹, Tomone Nagae¹, Hironori Izawa¹, Minoru Morimoto², Hiroyuki Saimoto¹, Shinsuke Ifuku³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Tottori University, 4-101 Koyama-minami, Tottori 680-8552, Japan.
² Research Center for Bioscience and Technology, Tottori University, 4-101 Koyama-minami, Tottori 680-8553, Japan.
³ Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Tottori University, 4-101 Koyama-minami, Tottori 680-8552, Japan. Electronic address: sifuku@chem.tottori-u.ac.jp.

PMID: 27561471
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.07.060

Abstract

Esterification with maleic anhydride significantly improved the mechanical disintegration of chitin into uniform 10-nm nanofibers. Nanofibers with 0.25° of esterification were homogeneously dispersed in basic water due to the carboxylate salt on the surface. Esterification proceeded on the surface and did not affect the relative crystallinity. A cast film of the esterified chitin nanofibers was highly transparent, since the film was free from light scattering.

Keywords: Chitin; Esterification with maleic anhydride; Nanofiber.

MeSH terms

Animals
Brachyura
Chitin / chemistry*
Esterification
Light
Maleic Anhydrides / chemistry*
Mechanical Phenomena
Nanofibers / chemistry*
Nanofibers / ultrastructure
Nanotechnology / methods
Scattering, Radiation
Surface Properties
Water / chemistry

Substances

Maleic Anhydrides
Water
Chitin