ISOLATION, STRUCTURE AND PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CHITIN-GLUCAN COMPLEXES OF HIGHER FUNGI

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of isolation processes, chemical structure and rheological properties of chitin-glucan complexes from the biomass of Armillaria mellea. Because of the studies, it was found that the yield of chitin-glucan complexes ranged from 11.0 to 24.9% with a degree of deacetylation from 24 to 55%. The maximum yield was obtained by treating the fruiting bodies of fungi at the stage of deproteinization with a 3% aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide with mechanical stirring at 225 rpm for 60 min at 75±5°C. It is shown that the degree of deacetylation correlates with the values of the alkali concentration used. The IR spectra of the obtained samples of chitin-glucan complexes include absorption bands characteristic of stretching and bending vibrations of the bonds of chitin and glucan links and coincide with the spectra of chitin-glucan complexes of other fungi. It has been established that the viscosity characteristics of a 1% solution of a chitin-glucan complex in 2% hydrochloric acid are 14 and 190 times lower than 5% and 10% solutions, respectively. Increasing the shear rate makes it possible to detect a decrease in the viscosity of all studied solutions. Storage of a 1% solution of chitin-glucan complexes for 7 days at 25±2°C is accompanied by a decrease in viscosity; the viscosity of 5 and 10% solutions remains stable.