Prevention of browning of depolymerized chitosan obtained by gamma irradiation

In this paper, effect of oxygen and pH on the browning of chitosan exposed to gamma radiation was investigated. It was found that oxygen and pH value could play important roles in the inhibiting browning of irradiated chitosan. When the pH value of chitosan solution was below 3.0, sufficient oxygen could inhibit browning of irradiated chitosan in aqueous solution. As a result of irradiation of chitosan solution (pH < 3) with sufficient oxygen, the irradiated chitosan solutions obtained were colorless and pellucid. FT-IR, 13C NMR, and UV–vis spectra confirmed that the irradiation in the presence of oxygen cannot result in chemical modification of irradiated chitosan. An effective technology was developed for the inhibition of browning of irradiated chitosan during depolymerization of chitosan by gamma irradiation.