Isolation and characterization of chitosan from different local insects in Egypt

Narguess H Marei; Emtithal Abd El-Samie; Taher Salah; Gamal R Saad; Ahmed H M Elwahy

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2015.10.024

Isolation and characterization of chitosan from different local insects in Egypt

Int J Biol Macromol. 2016 Jan:82:871-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2015.10.024. Epub 2015 Oct 14.

Authors

Narguess H Marei¹, Emtithal Abd El-Samie², Taher Salah³, Gamal R Saad¹, Ahmed H M Elwahy⁴

Affiliations

¹ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, 12631, Egypt.
² Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, 12631, Egypt.
³ Nanotechnology Unit, Agriculture Research Centre, Cairo 12631, Egypt.
⁴ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, 12631, Egypt. Electronic address: aelwahy@hotmail.com.

PMID: 26459168
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2015.10.024

Abstract

Chitin was extracted from four different local sources: the shrimp (Penaeus monodon), the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), the honey bee (Apis mellifera) and the beetles (Calosoma rugosa). Chitosan was then obtained by deacetylation of chitin and physicochemically characterized using the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction. The moisture content, water binding capacity, fats binding capacity, ash content were determined and chitosans morphology was visualized using the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The difference between the obtained chitosans from three insect sources and α-chitosan from shrimp in terms of crystallinity, fibrous structure was discussed.

Keywords: Characterization; Chitin; Chitosan; Deacetylation; Insects.

MeSH terms

Acetylation
Animals
Chitin / chemistry
Chitin / isolation & purification
Chitosan / chemistry*
Chitosan / isolation & purification
Egypt
Fats / chemistry
Insecta / chemistry*
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
Water / chemistry
X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

Fats
Water
Chitin
Chitosan