Abstract
Chitooligosaccharides (COSs) are a promising drug candidate and food ingredient because they are innately biocompatible, non-toxic, and non-allergenic to living tissues. Therefore, the impurities in COSs must be clearly elucidated and precisely determined. As for COSs, most analytical methods focus on the determination of the average degrees of polymerization (DPs) and deacetylation (DD), as well as separation and analysis of the single COSs with different DPs. However, little is known about the concentrations of inorganic cations and anions in COSs. In the present study, an efficient and sensitive ion chromatography coupled with conductivity detection (IC-CD) for the determination of inorganic cations Na+, NH4+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, and chloride, acetate and lactate anions was developed. Detection limits were 0.01–0.05 μM for cations and 0.5–0.6 μM for anions. The linear range was 0.001–0.8 mM. The optimized analysis was carried out on IonPac CS12A and IonPac AS12A analytical column for cations and anions, respectively, using isocratic elution with 20 mM methanesulfonic acid and 4 mM sodium hydroxide aqueous solution as the mobile phase at a 1.0 mL/min flow rate. Quality parameters, including precision and accuracy, were fully validated and found to be satisfactory. The fully validated IC-CD method was readily applied for the quantification of various cations and anions in commercial COS technical concentrate.
Highlights
The fully validated ion chromatography coupled with conductivity detection (IC-CD) method was readily applied for the quantification of various cations and anions in commercial COS technical concentrate
Chitooligosaccharides (COSs) derive from the hydrolysis of chitosan, a cationic polysaccharide obtained by partial deacetylation of chitin, the second most abundant naturally occurring homopolysaccharide extracted from, among others, the exoskeleton of crustaceans and insects and fungal cell walls [1]
COSs are promising as a drug candidate, and as a food ingredient, additive, and preservative that improve food quality and human health, because they are innately biocompatible, non-toxic, and non-allergenic to living tissues [3,4,5]
Summary
Chitooligosaccharides (COSs) derive from the hydrolysis of chitosan, a cationic polysaccharide obtained by partial deacetylation of chitin, the second most abundant naturally occurring homopolysaccharide extracted from, among others, the exoskeleton of crustaceans and insects and fungal cell walls [1]. COSs are readily soluble in water due to their shorter chain lengths and free amino groups in D-glucosamine units. The greater solubility and low viscosity of COSs at neutral pH make COSs perform remarkable biological activities at the cellular or molecular level [2]. COSs are promising as a drug candidate, and as a food ingredient, additive, and preservative that improve food quality and human health, because they are innately biocompatible, non-toxic, and non-allergenic to living tissues [3,4,5].
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