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Article
Ecofriendly Method to Dissolve Chitosan in Plain Water
ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering
  • Boxuan Li
  • Juan Wang
  • Mahmoud E. Moustafa
  • Hu Yang, Missouri University of Science and Technology
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
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2019 American Chemical Society (ACS), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
12-9-2019
Publication Date
09 Dec 2019
Citation Information
Boxuan Li, Juan Wang, Mahmoud E. Moustafa and Hu Yang. "Ecofriendly Method to Dissolve Chitosan in Plain Water" ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering Vol. 5 Iss. 12 (2019) p. 6355 - 6360 ISSN: 2373-9878
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/hu-yang/18/