Ecofriendly Method to Dissolve Chitosan in Plain Water

Abstract

Chitosan is an important and abundant natural-based polymer, and it has broad applications. However, dissolving chitosan in plain water is a challenge, which mostly limits the biomedical applications of chitosan materials. Herein, we report an ecofriendly dissolution method to obtain a plain water-based chitosan solution for the first time. In this method, dissolving chitosan in ionic liquid followed by overnight freezing at -20 °C and subsequent solvent exchange with plain water at room temperature results in a stable chitosan dispersion in water with nanosize, namely water-based, chitosan pseudosolution. The overall process is ecofriendly. This new method augments the quality and processability of chitosan solutions used in manufacturing and bioprocessing and promotes the biomedical applications of chitosan-based products.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Research Center/Lab(s)

Center for Research in Energy and Environment (CREE)

Keywords and Phrases

chitosan; dissolution method; ionic liquid; plain water-based solution; pseudosolution

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

2373-9878

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2019 American Chemical Society (ACS), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

09 Dec 2019

Link to Full Text

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