Low Temperature Dissolution of Yeast Chitin-Glucan Complex and Characterization of the Regenerated Polymer
Chitin-glucan complex (CGC) is a copolymer composed of chitin and glucan moieties extracted from the cell-walls of several yeasts and fungi. Despite its proven valuable properties, that include antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer activity, the utilization of CGC in many applications is hindere...
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doaj-7184d938afd1451bb5b32bd2396104112020-11-25T01:28:23ZengMDPI AGBioengineering2306-53542020-03-01712810.3390/bioengineering7010028bioengineering7010028Low Temperature Dissolution of Yeast Chitin-Glucan Complex and Characterization of the Regenerated PolymerDiana Araújo0Vítor D. Alves1Ana C. Marques2Elvira Fortunato3Maria A. M. Reis4Filomena Freitas5UCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, PortugalLEAF—Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugali3N/CENIMAT, Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon and CEMOP/UNINOVA, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugali3N/CENIMAT, Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon and CEMOP/UNINOVA, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, PortugalUCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, PortugalUCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, PortugalChitin-glucan complex (CGC) is a copolymer composed of chitin and glucan moieties extracted from the cell-walls of several yeasts and fungi. Despite its proven valuable properties, that include antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer activity, the utilization of CGC in many applications is hindered by its insolubility in water and most solvents. In this study, NaOH/urea solvent systems were used for the first time for solubilization of CGC extracted from the yeast <i>Komagataella pastoris</i>. Different NaOH/urea ratios (6:8, 8:4 and 11:4 (w/w), respectively) were used to obtain aqueous solutions using a freeze/thaw procedure. There was an overall solubilization of 63−68%, with the highest solubilization rate obtained for the highest tested urea concentration (8 wt%). The regenerated polymer, obtained by dialysis of the alkali solutions followed by lyophilization, formed porous macrostructures characterized by a chemical composition similar to that of the starting co-polymer, although the acetylation degree decreased from 61.3% to 33.9−50.6%, indicating that chitin was converted into chitosan, yielding chitosan-glucan complex (ChGC). Consistent with this, there was a reduction of the crystallinity index and thermal degradation temperature. Given these results, this study reports a simple and green procedure to solubilize CGC and obtain aqueous ChGC solutions that can be processed as novel biomaterials.https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5354/7/1/28chitin-glucan complex (cgc)chitosan-glucan complex (chgc)naoh/urea solvent systemsdissolutionstructural analysisthermal properties |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Diana Araújo Vítor D. Alves Ana C. Marques Elvira Fortunato Maria A. M. Reis Filomena Freitas |
spellingShingle |
Diana Araújo Vítor D. Alves Ana C. Marques Elvira Fortunato Maria A. M. Reis Filomena Freitas Low Temperature Dissolution of Yeast Chitin-Glucan Complex and Characterization of the Regenerated Polymer Bioengineering chitin-glucan complex (cgc) chitosan-glucan complex (chgc) naoh/urea solvent systems dissolution structural analysis thermal properties |
author_facet |
Diana Araújo Vítor D. Alves Ana C. Marques Elvira Fortunato Maria A. M. Reis Filomena Freitas |
author_sort |
Diana Araújo |
title |
Low Temperature Dissolution of Yeast Chitin-Glucan Complex and Characterization of the Regenerated Polymer |
title_short |
Low Temperature Dissolution of Yeast Chitin-Glucan Complex and Characterization of the Regenerated Polymer |
title_full |
Low Temperature Dissolution of Yeast Chitin-Glucan Complex and Characterization of the Regenerated Polymer |
title_fullStr |
Low Temperature Dissolution of Yeast Chitin-Glucan Complex and Characterization of the Regenerated Polymer |
title_full_unstemmed |
Low Temperature Dissolution of Yeast Chitin-Glucan Complex and Characterization of the Regenerated Polymer |
title_sort |
low temperature dissolution of yeast chitin-glucan complex and characterization of the regenerated polymer |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Bioengineering |
issn |
2306-5354 |
publishDate |
2020-03-01 |
description |
Chitin-glucan complex (CGC) is a copolymer composed of chitin and glucan moieties extracted from the cell-walls of several yeasts and fungi. Despite its proven valuable properties, that include antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer activity, the utilization of CGC in many applications is hindered by its insolubility in water and most solvents. In this study, NaOH/urea solvent systems were used for the first time for solubilization of CGC extracted from the yeast <i>Komagataella pastoris</i>. Different NaOH/urea ratios (6:8, 8:4 and 11:4 (w/w), respectively) were used to obtain aqueous solutions using a freeze/thaw procedure. There was an overall solubilization of 63−68%, with the highest solubilization rate obtained for the highest tested urea concentration (8 wt%). The regenerated polymer, obtained by dialysis of the alkali solutions followed by lyophilization, formed porous macrostructures characterized by a chemical composition similar to that of the starting co-polymer, although the acetylation degree decreased from 61.3% to 33.9−50.6%, indicating that chitin was converted into chitosan, yielding chitosan-glucan complex (ChGC). Consistent with this, there was a reduction of the crystallinity index and thermal degradation temperature. Given these results, this study reports a simple and green procedure to solubilize CGC and obtain aqueous ChGC solutions that can be processed as novel biomaterials. |
topic |
chitin-glucan complex (cgc) chitosan-glucan complex (chgc) naoh/urea solvent systems dissolution structural analysis thermal properties |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5354/7/1/28 |
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