Dissolution and stability of chitosan in a sodium hydroxide/urea aqueous solution

ABSTRACT Medium‐molecular‐weight chitosan (MMWC; 157.5 kDa) and low‐molecular‐weight chitosan (LMWC; 53.4 kDa) samples were dissolved in an NaOH/urea solution by freeze–thaw treatment. The factors affecting dissolution were optimized, and the stability of chitosan in the produced solution was investigated. NaOH and urea concentrations of 2 and 0.67 mol/L, respectively, and a treatment temperature of −18°C were optimized as the dissolving conditions. MMWC and LMWC could be completely dissolved in the 2 mol/L NaOH/0.67 mol/L urea solution after six and five cycles of freeze–thaw treatments, respectively. Dissolution and storage in the 2 mol/L NaOH/0.67 mol/L urea solution slightly increased the deacetylation degree of chitosan and slightly decreased the molecular weight. The solution stability of LMWC was better than that of MMWC. MMWC tended to form a gel during storage. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131 , 39819.