Glyceraldehyde as an efficient chemical crosslinker agent for the formation of chitosan hydrogels
Journal article, 2021

The rheological changes that occur during the chemical gelation of semidilute solutions of chitosan in the presence of the low‐toxicity agent glyceraldehyde (GCA) are presented and discussed in detail. The entanglement concentration for chitosan solutions was found to be approximately 0.2 wt.% and the rheological experiments were carried out on 1 wt.% chitosan solutions with various amounts of GCA at different temperatures (25 °C and 40 °C) and pH values (4.8 and 5.8). High crosslinker concentration, as well as elevated temperature and pH close to the pKa value (pH ≈ 6.3–7) of chitosan are three parameters that all accelerate the gelation process. These conditions also promote a faster solid‐like response of the gel‐network in the post‐gel region after long curing times. The mesh size of the gel‐network after a very long (18 h) curing time was found to contract with increasing level of crosslinker addition and elevated temperature. The gelation of chitosan in the presence of other chemical crosslinker agents (glutaraldehyde and genipin) is discussed and a comparison with GCA is made. Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) results reveal structural changes between chitosan solutions, incipient gels, and mature gels.

Gelation time

SANS

Chitosan

Chemical crosslinking

Postgel

Rheology

Hydrogels

Glyceraldehyde

Viscosity

Author

Pierre Carmona

University of Oslo

Chalmers, Physics, Nano and Biophysics

Anca M. Tasici

University of Oslo

Sverre A. Sande

University of Oslo

Kenneth D. Knudsen

Institutt for energiteknikk

Bo Nyström

University of Oslo

Gels

23102861 (eISSN)

Vol. 7 4 186

Subject Categories

Physical Chemistry

Food Engineering

Other Chemistry Topics

DOI

10.3390/gels7040186

PubMed

34842656

More information

Latest update

1/3/2024 9