Preparation of low molecular weight chitosan by pawpaw protease

Abstract

Pawpaw protease was used to degrade chitosan, and then obtained low molecular weight chitosan and reducing sugar in this study. According to the orthogonal experiment on the degradation of chitosan by pawpaw protease, the effects of temperature, pH value, reaction time and enzyme dosage on the decomposition efficiency of chitosan were investigated with the concentration of reducing sugar in the degradation solution as the index. The experimental results show that the optimal conditions for the degradation reaction are: the pH value of 4.1 and the reaction temperature of 42 °C, the reaction time of 1.4 h and the amount of enzyme of 30 U/mg, the concentration of reducing sugar in the degradation solution of 1.57 g/L and the yield of 15.7%.