Simultaneous Determination of the Degree of Deacetylation and Substitution on Carboxymethyl Chitosan by Headspace Gas Chromatography

This study reported a new headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) for simultaneously determining the degree of deacetylation (DD) and the degree of substitution (DS) in carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS), which were based on HS-GC measuring the amounts of CO2 released from both the bicarbonate decomposition suppressed by -NH2 and the reaction between the bicarbonate and the acidified carboxymethyl and amino groups in CMCS. The results showed that the present method has a good measurement precision (RSD < 2.55%) and accuracy (relative differences <5.90%). Compared with the current titration-based method, the present HS-GC techniques provide a more reliable testing in the quantification of amino and carboxymethyl contents in CMCS. Moreover, since the HS-GC can perform an automated sample reaction equilibration and measurement, it could be much more efficient than the existing methods in the batch sample analysis.