Preparation of chitin nanofibers with a uniform width as alpha-chitin from crab shells.
Chitin nanofibers were prepared from dried crab shells by a simple grinding treatment in a never-dried state under an acidic condition after the removal of proteins and minerals. The obtained nanofibers were observed by FE-SEM and found to have a uniform width of approximately 10-20 nm and high aspect ratio; both these findings were similar to those for nanofibers from prawns. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the nanofibers were extracted from the natural chitin/protein/mineral composites of crab shell in their original state. That is, the N-acetyl group was not removed and the alpha-chitin crystal structure was maintained, as confirmed by elemental analysis data, FT-IR spectra, and X-ray diffraction profiles.
Ifuku
Shinsuke
S
Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Tottori University, Minami, Tottori, Japan. sifuku@chem.tottori-u.ac.jp
Nogi
Masaya
M
Abe
Kentaro
K
Yoshioka
Masafumi
M
Morimoto
Minoru
M
Saimoto
Hiroyuki
H
Yano
Hiroyuki
H
D000818:Animals; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002686:Chitin / Q000737:chemistry*; D003445:Crustacea; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D049329:Nanostructures; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
D002686:Chitin