Utilization of prawn waste: isolation of chitin and its conversion to chitosan

process is described for the preparation of chitosan from prawn waste. The process involves extraction of protein using 0.5% sodium hydroxide solution, bleaching the protein free mass with bleach liquor containing 0.3-0.5% available chlorine followed by demineralisation with 1.25 N hydrochloric acid in the cold and deacetylation using 1:1 (w/w) sodium hydroxide solution at 100°C for 2 hours.

Chitosan from Squilla

Squilla (Oratosquilla nepa) is abundant along the west coast of India, inhabiting burrows in sand and mud. The species is little used as it possesses little meat. There is great similarity between chemical composition of Squilla and prawn waste, and it is suggested that Squilla could therefore be used for making chitosan, a potential industrial chemical with various uses. Preparation of chitosan, and the general nature of the prepared product, is described.

Chitosan as a water clarifying agent

Chitosan may be used to reduce the bacterial load of water. Material prepared according to the method of Radhakrishnan & Prahu described in Res. & Ind., 16(4), pp. 265, used in 1% solution in 1% acetic acid was added at 10 ppm level to contaminated water and allowed to stand for 45 min. Cultures of E. coli, Staphylococci and a mixture of the 2 were inoculated into ordinary and muddy water. Bacterial load was determined, and it is shown that chitosan has excellent qualities as a coagulant/water clarifying agent, especially for muddy waters or those contaminated with suspended matter or bacteria.

Chitosan for removal of mercury from water

Chitosan from prawn waste was used for the removal of mercury from solutions. Mercuric chloride solutions containing 250, 500, 1000, 10000 and 100000 ng of Hg super(+2)/ml were treated with chitosan samples of different particle size for different periods. The effect of initial concentration of mercury in the solution, particle size of chitosan and time of treatment on the adsorption of Hg super(+2) was studied. The residual mercury content after treatment for ten min. with chitosan of 40 mesh size from a solution of initial concentration 10000 ng/ml was 10 ng/ml whereas it was 50 ng/ml for chitosan of larger particle size (10-20 mesh). From solutions of lower concentrations complete removal of mercury was possible by chitosan treatment. Though the particle size and time of treatment have significant effect, the concentration of mercury in solution is more influential on the removal of mercury from solution.

Plankton Community Succession in Artificial Systems Subjected to Cyanobacterial Blooms Removal using Chitosan-Modified Soils

Using artificial systems to simulate natural lake environments with cyanobacterial blooms, we investigated plankton community succession by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) fingerprinting and morphological method. With this approach, we explored potential ecological effects of a newly developed cyanobacterial blooms removal method using chitosan-modified soils. Results of PCR-DGGE and morphological identification showed that plankton communities in the four test systems were nearly identical at the beginning of the experiment. After applying the newly developed and standard removal methods, there was a shift in community composition, but neither chemical conditions nor plankton succession were significantly affected by the cyanobacteria removal process. The planted Vallisneria natans successfully recovered after cyanobacteria removal, whereas that in the box without removal process did not. Additionally, canonical correspondence analysis indicated that other than for zooplankton abundance, total phosphorus was the most important environmental predictor of planktonic composition. The present study and others suggest that dealing with cyanobacteria removal using chitosan-modified soils can play an important role in controlling cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophicated freshwater systems.

中药蜘蛛香的化学成分研究及以羧甲基魔芋葡苷聚糖-壳聚糖为细胞膜的天冬酰胺酶人工细胞研究

本论文由三章组成。第一章介绍了中药蜘蛛香的化学成分的研究成果，第二章为羧甲基魔芋葡苷聚糖-壳聚糖为细胞膜的天冬酰胺酶人工细胞的研究，第三章综述了人工细胞在生物医学领域的应用。 第一章报道了中药蜘蛛香（Valeriana wallichii）根部乙醇提取物的化学成分，采用正、反相硅胶层析等分离方法和MS、NMR等多种波谱手段，从中共分离鉴定出17个化合物，分别为缬草素(valtrate，1)，valechlorine（2），homobadrinal（3），baldrinal（4），乙酰缬草素(acevaltrate 5)，valeriotetrate C（6），valeriotetrate B（7），对羟基苯乙酮(4'-hydroxy-acetophenone 8)，7-hydroxy valtrate（9），8-methylvalepotriate（10），1,5-dihydroxy-3,8-epoxyvalechlorine A（11），二氢缬草素(didrovaltrate 12)，胡萝卜苷（13），橙皮苷 (hesperidin 14)，prinsepiol-4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside（15），longiflorone（16），乙基糖苷（17）。其中化合物6、7、10、和11为新化合物，化合物9、15、16为首次从该植物中得到。新化合物11为含有氯原子的刚性骨架环烯醚萜，并且确定了其绝对构型。 第二章报道了以羧甲基魔芋葡苷聚糖（CKGM）和壳聚糖（CS）为膜的固定化L-天冬酰胺酶人工细胞研究成果。利用羧甲基魔芋葡苷聚糖和壳聚糖两种生物相容性很好的天然多糖之间的静电吸引力，在非常温和的条件下制备成具有半透过性膜的人工细胞，将治疗儿童急性成淋巴细胞性白血病(ALL)的药物L-天冬酰胺酶包裹在内。通过考察温度和pH对人工细胞的影响,结果表明以CKGM- CS为膜的L-天冬酰胺酶人工细胞对温度和pH的稳定性和耐受性均高于自由酶，说明CKGM-CS对酶具有保护作用，而且小分子底物和产物可以自由进出膜内外，而包裹在膜内的生物大分子则不能泄露出来。 第三章综述了微囊化人工细胞的研究进展。 This dissertation consists of three parts. In the first part, the chemical constituents from the root of Valeriana wallichii were reported. In the second part, preparation and characteristics of L-Asparaginase Artificial cell were reported. The third part is a review on progress of microcapsule artificial cell. The first chapter is about the isolation and identification of the chemical constituents from the root of V. wallichii. Seventeen compounds were isolated from the ethanol extract of roots of V. wallichii through repeated column chromatography on normal and reversed phase silica gel. By the spectroscopic and chemical evidence, their structures were elucidated as valtrate (1), valechlorine (2), homobadrinal (3), baldrinal (4), acevaltrate (5), valeriotetrate C (6), valeriotetrate B (7), 4'-hydroxy-acetophenone (8), 7-hydroxy valtrate (9), 8-methylvalepotriate (10), 1,5-dihydroxy-3,8-epoxyvalechlorine A (11), didrovaltrate (12), daucosterol (13), hesperidin (14), prinsepiol-4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (15), longiflorone (16), and ethyl glucoside (17). Among them, 6, 7, 10, and 11 are new compounds. 15, 16 and 9 were isolated from this plant for the first time. The absolute configuration of compound 11, an unusual iridoid bearing a C-10 chlor-group and an oxo-bridge connecting C-3 and C-8 resulting in a rigid skeleton, was confirmed. The second chapter is about the semi-permeable microcapsule of carboxymethyl konjac glucomannan-chitosan for L-asparaginase immobilization. Carboxymethyl konjac glucomannan-chitosan (CKGM-CS) microcapsules, which have good biocompatibility, prepared under very mild conditions via polyelectrostatic complexation, were used for immobilize L-asparaginase-a kind of drug for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The activity and stability under different temperature and pH of the enzyme loaded-microcapsules were studied. The results indicated the immobilized enzyme has better stability and activity contrasting to the native enzyme. The study illustrates that the L-asparaginase could be protected in CKGM-CS microcapsules, the substrate and product could pass through the system freely.

Swelling behaviour of alginate-chitosan microcapsules prepared by external gelation or internal gelation technology

Swelling behaviour is one of the important properties for microcapsules made by hydrogels, which always affects the diffusion and release of drugs when the microcapsules are applied in drug delivery systems. In this paper, alginate-chitosan microcapsules were prepared by different technologies called external or internal gelation process respectively. With the volume swelling degree (S-w) as an index, the effect of properties of chitosan on the swelling behaviour of both microcapsules was investigated. It was demonstrated that the microcapsules with low molecular weight and high concentration of chitosan gave rise to low S-w. Considering the need of maintaining drug activity and drug loading, neutral pH and short gelation time were favorable. It was also noticed that S-w of internal gelation microcapsules was lower than that of external gelation microcapsules, which was interpreted by the structure analysis of internal or external gelation Ca-alginate beads with the aid of confocal laser scanning microscope. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemical modifications of carboxylated chitosan

C-6-carboxylated chitosan obtained by oxidation of chitosan was selectively modified in order to obtain derivatives similar to bacterial antigens. Selective O-acetylation of 6-carboxyl chitosan afforded a modified polysaccharide with the 2-amino group available for further modifications to create carbonyl groups. A deaminative degradation reaction allowed the formation of oligosaccharides with terminal aldehyde groups. Reductive alkylation with lactose introduced lactityl branches which were oxidized with galactose oxidase to give aldehyde groups in its -galactose residues.