Structural investigations of chitin and its deacetylation products

摘要

The structure of crab chitin and chitosan from it with various degrees of deacetylation (DDA) are studied by x-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, and microscopy. Deacetylation causes substantial destruction of the chitin srystal structure, makes it amorphous, increases the defectiveness of crystallites as the DDA increases, weakens intermolecular H-bonds, and eliminates the fibrillarity.