Abstract
In view of the high potential of trimethylsilylated chitin as a reaction precursor, the influence of trimethylsilylation and detrimethylsilylation on the molecular weight characteristics has been studied. Chitin was trimethylsilylated, and the product was detrimethylsilylated to regenerate chitin. The molecular weights of the original and regenerated chitins were determined by viscometry and GPC. The viscosity measurements, with either an Ubbelohde or a rotational viscometer, gave highly reproducible values, which were quite similar to each other. The molecular weight of the regenerated chitin was found to be a little over a half that of the original chitin despite after the silylation-desilylation reactions. GPC also supported a similarly low extent of main chain scission. These results indicate that the silylation-desilylation reactions are reproducible without a significant damage to the chitin main chain, and both viscometry and GPC have proved reliable in elucidating the molecular weight characteristics. Trimethylsilylation of chitin can thus be conveniently used as a key intermediate for further controlled modification reactions to prepare well-defined derivatives.
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