Clean technology to make low molecular weight chitosan
Tuesday, April 4, 2017 - 06:02
in Physics & Chemistry
Researchers at MIPT have developed a new technique for obtaining low-molecular-weight, water-soluble chitin and chitosan. The proposed method relies on chitin and chitosan degradation by electron-beam plasma in a special plasma chemical reactor. The new technology reduces the time needed to produce water-soluble oligosaccharides of chitin and chitosan from several days to minutes. It also has the advantage of being environmentally friendly. The proposed method yields biologically active oligosaccharides with anti-microbial and fungicidal properties. The research findings were published in Carbohydrate Polymers.