The Configuration and Polyelectrolyte Behavior of Carboxymethyl Chitin in Low Concentration Solution

To elucidate the intrinsic rheological properties of carboxymethyl chitin (CM-chitin) from the shell of red snow cyab (Chinonecetes japonicus), the configuration and polyelectrolyte behavior of CM-chitin in low concentration solution were investigated. Unperturbed dimensions were ranged from as root mean square end-to-end distance, to as radius of gyration. The intramolecular expansion tarter(a) was not varied with molecular weight and was 2.1. And effective bond length was . In perturbed condition, Flory constant was . When ionic strength were 0.02 and 1.0, intrinsic viscosity were 1.95dl/g and 1,06 dl/g, respectively. These results suggested that CM-chitin is a polyelectrolyte in aqueous media. At infinite ionic strength, intrinsic viscosity was 0.91dl/g. The intrinsic stiffness of CM-chitin backbone was estimated by evaluating the stiffness parameter (B) as 0.11 and agreed well with the results of k-carrageenan.