Chitosan Production from Indian Squid (Uroteuthis duvauceli) Pen and Quality Assessment of the Products

Chitosan, as a biodegradable polymer is widely used for biomedical applications, tissue engineering and medical items. In this study, chitosan produced from Indian Squid, Uroteuthis duvaucelii, pen and the quality of produced chitosan was investigated in two ways. In the first method, dry powder of chitin was added to 50% boiling NaOH solution slowly, and in the second method, the chitin was added to the reagent (solid potassium hydroxide, ethanol 96 and monoethylene glycol with a 2: 1: 1 ratio). To determine the physicochemical properties of the extracted chitosan’s, the percentage of deacetylation, molecular weight, apparent viscosity, crystallization and elemental analysis using various methods such as infrared spectroscopy, viscometery, XRD and CHN were measured.The results showed that the chitosan molecular weight, produced in first method, was in the range of 1.57×105 to 7.8 × 104 Da, and for the chitosan produced in second method was 1.8 × 104 Da. the percentage of the ash of chitin, first chosen and second chitosan was 0.14, chitosan 1.56 and 1.43, respectively. Chitosan elemental analysis showed that the amount of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen were 12.79%, 17.1% and 22% in first chitosan and 12.90, 0.34 and 0.20 in second chitosan, respectively. The results of FTIR indicated that degree of deacetylation was less than 20%, which is lower compared to commercial chitosan’s. Based on the XRD results, the chitosan consisted of strong peak in 26, 33, 36, 38 and 46 crystallization degrees. The chitosan derived from the squid had a low degree of deacetylation, which could be due to different conditions for the preparation of chitosan.