Journal
CARBOHYDRATE POLYMERS
Volume 196, Issue -, Pages 405-413Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.05.060
Keywords
Chitosan; Tripolyphosphate; Gel; Molecular weight; Acetylation degree; Mechanical properties
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Funding
- University of Trieste
- INTERREG V-A ITALIA-SLOVENIA 2014-2020 BANDO 1/2016 ASSE 1 - project [1472551605]
- ERA-MarineBiotech project Mar3Bio
- Microscopy Center of the University of Trieste at the Department of Life Sciences
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A broad library of chitosans was produced varying the molecular weight and the fraction of acetylated units, FA. The produced chitosans were used for the formation of wall-to-wall cylindrical gels through a controlled external gelation using tripolyphosphate (TPP) as cross-linker. The resulting gels were analyzed by rheometry. Viscosity average degree of polymerization ((DPv) over bar) > 152 was shown to be required for the formation of stable gels. Both gel stiffness and gel rupture strength were proportional to the molecular weight regardless of the applied deformation. Increasing acetylation produced a marked reduction of the shear modulus, but, in parallel, switched the networks from rigid and brittle to weak and elastic. Intriguingly, gels made of chitosan with F-A=0.37 displayed notable elasticity, i.e. up to 90% of applied strain falls into linear regime. These findings suggest that the frequency of glucosamine (D unit) and N-acetyl-glucosamine (A unit) contribute to a subtle structureproperty relationship in chitosan-TPP gels.
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