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Degradation of chitosan and chemically modified chitosan by viscosity measurements
Author(s) -
Agnihotri Sunil A.,
Kulkarni Vaibhav D.,
Kulkarni Anandrao R.,
Aminabhavi Tejraj M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.24663
Subject(s) - chitosan , acetic acid , degradation (telecommunications) , acrylamide , polymer , intrinsic viscosity , viscosity , biodegradation , chemistry , polymer degradation , chemical engineering , nuclear chemistry , chemical modification , polymer chemistry , materials science , organic chemistry , composite material , copolymer , telecommunications , computer science , engineering
Chitosan and chitosan‐ grafted ‐acrylamide were subjected to degradation in the presence and absence of a degrading agent at 37°C by measuring the viscosity of polymer solutions. Extracts from the fresh rat droppings were used as the degrading agent to simulate the environmental degrading conditions. Results of this study indicated that the concentrations of acetic acid in solution and chemical modifications of chitosan affected the degradation both in the presence as well as in the absence of a degrading agent. Reduction in viscosity was used to study the degradation. Chitosan was stable up to sixteen days of immersion in acetic acid without the degrading agent, but it readily underwent degradation in the presence of a degrading agent. Chitosan‐ grafted ‐acrylamide also followed the same trend, but the extent of reduction in viscosity was much less than pure chitosan, indicating that the chemical modification has improved the stability of the polymer. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 3255–3258, 2006