Abstract
The degradation of chitosan in aqueous solutions of acetic and hydrochloric acids initiated by the hydrogen peroxide-ascorbic acid redox system has been studied. The nature of acid strongly affects the degree of degradation and the molecular mass of oligochitosan—the reaction product. The relationship between the molecular mass of oligochitosan and the concentration of acetic acid in the solvent is described by a curve with a minimum. If acetic acid is present in a 5-fold molar excess with respect to chitosan units, the starting solution behaves as a Newtonian liquid. It has been demonstrated that, exactly in this solution, oligochitosan with the minimum amount of units is formed.
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