Silylated Chitin: A New Organosoluble Precursor for Facile Modifications and Film Casting

Trimethylsilylation of chitin and some properties of the product have been examined. Full substitution could be achieved on (beta)-chitin under appropriate conditions. The high solubility along with easy desilylation enabled simple preparation of chitin films. Furthermore, the silylated chitin exhibited high reactivity and thus proved to be a convenient organosoluble precursor for facile modifications of this intractable biomass resource.