Abstract
The reaction of chitosan with cinnamic acid gave the corresponding N-cinnamoyl chitosan (NCC) polymer. The chem-ical structure of the modified polymer was characterized by IR, 1H-NMR and elemental analysis. Thermogravim- etric analysis reveals that the thermal stability of chitosan polymer is greater than NCC polymer. The activation energies of thermal degradation of chitosan and NCC polymers were determined using Arrhenius relationship. Thermal degradation of NCC polymer was studied and the products of degradation were identified by GC-MS technique. It seems that the mechanism of degradation of NCC polymer is characterized by elimination of low-molecular weight radicals. Combination of these radicals and random scission mechanism along the backbone chain are the main source of the degradation products.
Highlights
Chitosan is a kind of fine biomaterial obtained by deacetylation of naturally occurring polymer chitin
It seems that the mechanism of degradation of N-cinnamoyl chitosan (NCC) polymer is characterized by elimination of low-molecular weight radicals
Combination of these radicals and random scission mechanism along the backbone chain are the main source of the degradation products
Summary
Chitosan is a kind of fine biomaterial obtained by deacetylation of naturally occurring polymer chitin. It consists of β-(1,4)-2-amino-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranose units (GKN) and a small amount of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranose or N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GKNAc) residues. Chitosan is a non-toxic, biodegradable, and biocompatible polymer, which is reported to exhibit a great variety of useful biological properties. The chemical modifications of chitosan have been applied [1]. It has been reported that chitosan is more stable than chitin to depolymerization due to stabilizing effect of the free amino group [16]. The thermal stability and degradation behaviours of these modified has been reported polymers.
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