TITLE:
Ionic Liquid as Useful Media for Dissolution, Derivatization, and Nanomaterial Processing of Chitin
AUTHORS:
Jun-Ichi Kadokawa
KEYWORDS:
Chitin; Ionic Liquid; Derivatization; Nanofiber; Composite Material
JOURNAL NAME:
Green and Sustainable Chemistry,
Vol.3 No.2A,
May
27,
2013
ABSTRACT:
This paper reviews studies on dissolution, derivatization, and
nanomaterial processing of chitin using an ionic liquid as useful media.
Because chitin is the second most abundant polysaccharide on the earth after
cellulose, there is major interest in conversion of native chitin
resources into various useful materials after proper dissolution in suitable
solvents. For the derivatization and nanomaterial processing of chitin, the
author has been focusing on ionic liquids because which have been found to be
used as good solvents for cellulose in a past decade. The author found that an
ionic liquid, 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (AMIMBr), dissolved chitin in
concentrations up to 4.8 wt% and mixtures of the higher amounts of chitin with
AMIMBr gave ion gels. Acetylation, the simplest derivatization, of chitin using
acetic anhydride was achieved in the AMIMBr solvent under mild conditions.
Furthermore, the chitin nanofibers were fabricated by regeneration
technique from the chitin ion gel with AMIMBr using methanol. Moreover,
filtration of the chitin nanofiber dispersion with methanol was carried out to
give a chitin nanofiber film. The chitin nanofiber-poly(vinyl alcohol)
composite film was also prepared from the ion gel by co-regeneration method.