Characterization of chitosan and chitin produced from silkworm crysalides

Chitin, extracted from silkworm chrysalides, was employed for the production of a high purity and porous chitosan, as observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Chitin and chitosan produced were characterized by infrared (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (13C-NMR) spectroscopy, thermal analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and SEM. Two methods of chitin and chitosan extractions were investigated and compared, and although these were of high purity, the yield of chitin and chitosan were low if compared with the chitin and chitosan produced from crustacean shells. The yield of chitosan production by chitin deacetylation or degree of deacetylation (DD) was an average 83%. The molecular weight (MW) was determined by viscosimetric methods.