Effect of supermolecular particles in chitosan solutions on the correlation of intrinsic viscosity and degree of polymerization

Abstract

Large differences in some reported relationships between the intrinsic viscosity [h] and the weight-average degree of polymerization PW of chitosans are discussed in terms of a simple model based on the assumption that the PW values estimated by light scattering can be significantly increased by large supermolecular particles which have not been removed from solutions and which do not affect significantly [h]. The effect depends on their content and size. Various shapes of the plots of [h] vs Pw can be explained. The hypothesis is presented that the supermolecular particles are residues of crystalline structures of chitosans. © 2011 RASĀYAN. All rights reserved.