Effect of chitosan on Bacillus cereus inhibition and quality of cooked rice during storage

Improper cooling of cooked rice at an inappropriate temperature or leaving cooked rice at room temperature can cause food poisoning attributed to Bacillus cereus. Natural food preservative of either squid or crab polymer chitosan solution was added to examine their antibacterial properties against Bacillus cereus in cooked rice during storage at 37 and 4 °C. Both types of chitosan could retard the growth of B. cereus and total aerobic counts in cooked rice stored at 37 °C up to 1 day. In addition, the effect of chitosans on the physical and textural properties of cooked rice during storage was studied. Both chitosans slightly increased the moisture content of cooked rice. However, chitosans had no effect on the whiteness and hardness of cooked rice during storage (P > 0.05). Therefore, both chitosans have a potential to be used as food preservative for cooked rice with no negative effects on rice quality.     

Preparation and characterization of chitosan‐based dispersions

Complexation of chitosan in aqueous solutions by low molecular weight electrolytes is one of the simplest methods for the preparation of aqueous chitosan dispersions. In this work, the influence of storage time, sulfate concentration, method of preparation and surfactant content on some properties of the resultant chitosan dispersions (turbidity, viscosity and zeta potential) was analyzed. Turbidimetry was adequate to monitor the formation of particles, while viscometry was suitable to monitor changes in the dispersing phase. An analysis of the properties of these systems, mainly in terms of particle–particle and macromolecule–macromolecule interactions was carried out. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

壳聚糖和粉煤灰对间甲酚的吸附处理

用壳聚糖和粉煤灰对含间甲酚的废水进行吸附处理,考察了壳聚糖的用量、振荡时间、振荡速度以及粉煤灰与壳聚糖的混合比对处理效果的影响.结果表明:在常温下,对于初始质量浓度为56 mg/L的间甲酚,当壳聚糖用量为3 g/L,以170 r/min的转速吸附振荡0.5 h,去除率可达到88%以上;在上述条件下,加入质量比4:1的粉煤灰与壳聚糖混合物5g/L时,间甲酚的去除率可达到91%.     

Sorption of Acid Green 25 on chitosan: Influence of experimental parameters on uptake kinetics and sorption isotherms

Acid Green 25, which is a diazoic dye bearing two sulfonic groups, is efficiently sorbed on chitosan. The protonation of chitosan may explain the electrostatic attraction of this anionic dye and that its optimum pH is close to 3. Preliminary protonation of amine groups (obtained by contact with a sulfuric acid solution) reduced the variation of solution pH following sorbent addition but significantly reduced sorption performance: the maximum sorption capacity of raw chitosan, 525 mg dye/g (0.84 mmol dye/g), was halved by acidic preconditioning. The acidic conditioning also reduced the kinetic rate—the time necessary to reach equilibrium increased up to threefold depending on the experimental conditions. The size of sorbent particles influenced sorption kinetics and equilibrium because of resistance to intraparticle diffusion, but the sorption appeared to occur not only at the surface of the sorbent but also in the intraparticle network of the polymer. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 1073–1080, 2003     

Synthesis and characterization of chitosan/poly(acrylic acid) polyelectrolyte complex

Polyelectrolyte complex based on chitosan and acrylic acid monomer by photoinitiated free‐radical polymerization in the absence of crosslinker showed a large transition in swelling in response to changes in pH of surrounding medium. Their ability to swell arises from polyelectrolyte interactions and molecular structure of the complex. The main properties of interest that related to the molecular structure, swelling volumes, glass transition temperature, and elastic modulus of the complex were investigated. The effect of water content, the only variable in the sample component, played an important role in molecular structure of the complex and as a consequence, the extent of intermolecular linkage, especially amide bonds which in turn governed the degree of swelling of the polyelectrolyte complex in this study. The decreased degree of swelling and higher temperature shift of glass transition temperature was found with increased water content, whereas increased modulus of elasticity of dry complex was found in lower water content of synthesis component. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 1025–1035, 2002     

Properties of paper coated with kaolin: The influence of the rheological modifier

The first part of this paper analyses the influence of the molecular weight and concentration of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and of kaolin concentration on rheology of the coating colours and on paper properties coated with ultra lightweight coatings (ULWC). In the second part, relationships between the rheological characteristics of the coating colour formulations and coated paper surface quality was also studied.New indexes on paper roughness at micro-scale are presented (RZI and SRI). In general, they show good correlation with sheet gloss. A new gloss index (SGI) is presented, accounting for the contribution of gloss from machine direction (MD) and cross direction (CD). Porosimetry was used to access microstructural characteristics in order to correlate them with light scattering and gloss properties. The former property is closely related to Hg intrusion volume of the coated layer while gloss is related to surface porosity with pore diameters in the range of 7–15 μm as measured by Hg intrusion volume.     

Novel blood-compatible waterborne polyurethane using chitosan as an extender

A series of novel block polymers of polyurethane (PU) and chitosan have been prepared in two steps. The first step is the preparation of PU prepolymer, obtained from polytetramethylene oxide glycol (PTMO, M_n = 1000), isophrone diisocyanate (IPDI), and 2,2′-dimethylol propionic acid (DMPA), followed by ionizing PU prepolymer with triethylamine (TEA). The second step involves PU chain-extended by water-soluble chitosan of low molecular weight (M_n = 5000) by self-emulsion polymerization method. The sizes of the latex particles, morphology, and copolymer architecture have been characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), general tensile test, infrared spectroscopy (IR), surface contact angle measurement, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Furthermore, it shows that the addition of chitosan remarkably increases anticoagulative property of PU elastomers confirmed by the recalcification time. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Polysaccharide‐based artificial extracellular matrix: Preparation and characterization of three‐dimensional,macroporous chitosan,and heparin composite scaffold

Scaffold‐guided tissue engineering based on synthetic and natural occurring polymers has gained many interests in recent year. In this study, the development of a chitosan‐heparin artificial extracellular matrix (AECM) is reported. Three‐dimensional, macroporous composite AECMs composed of heparin (Hep) and chitosan (Chito) were prepared by an interpolyelectrolyte complex/lyophilization method. The Chito‐Hep composite AECMs were, respectively, crosslinked with glutaraldehyde, as well as cocrosslinked with N,N‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl)‐N′‐ethyl carbodiimide (EDC/NHS) and N‐hydroxysuccinimide (NHS). The crosslinking reactions were examined by FT‐IR analysis. In physiological buffer solution (PBS), the EDC/NHS‐crosslinked Chito‐Hep composite AECM showed a relative lower water retention ratio than its glutaraldehyde‐crosslinked counterparts. The EDC/NHS‐crosslinked Chito‐Hep composite AECMs showed excellent biocompatibility, according to the results of the in vitro cytotoxic test. This result suggested that the EDC/NHS‐crosslinked Chito‐Hep composite AECMs might be a potential biomaterial for scaffold‐guided tissue engineering applications. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Preparation and Characterization of Carboxymethyl Chitosan and β-Cyclodextrin Microspheres by Spray Drying

Three kinds of carboxymethyl chitosan/β-cyclodextrin microspheres loaded with theophylline were prepared by spray drying intended for pulmonary delivery. Mucociliotoxicity, permeation rate, and drug release characteristics of the product were investigated. The microspheres obtained by spray drying were found to be spherical with smooth or wrinkled surfaces. The mean particle size was between 3.39 and 6.06 µm. The microspheres demonstrated high product yield (43.7-50.2%), high drug loading (13.7-38.1%), and high encapsulation efficiency (86.9-92.8%). FT-IR indicated that there were interactions of theophylline with carboxymethyl chitosan matrix. Further studies on mucociliotoxicity and permeation confirmed that microspheres had better adaptability and high permeation rate. In vitro drug release from the microspheres was not related to the drug/polymer ratios.     

Microstructured Lipid Carriers (MLC) Based on N-Acetylcysteine and Chitosan Preventing Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm

The aim of this work was the development of microstructured lipid carriers (MLC) based on chitosan (CH) and containing N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a mucolytic and antioxidant agent, to inhibit the formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm. MLC were prepared using the high shear homogenization technique. The MLC were characterized for morphology, particle size, Z potential, encapsulation efficiency and drug release. The antioxidant properties of NAC-loaded microstructured carriers were evaluated through an in vitro spectrophotometer assay. Finally, the activity of NAC-CH-MLC on biofilm production by Pseudomonas aeruginosa was also evaluated. Results obtained from this study highlighted that the use of chitosan into the inner aqueous phase permitted to obtain microstructured particles with a narrow size range and with good encapsulation efficiency. NAC-loaded MLC showed higher antioxidant activity than the free molecule, demonstrating how encapsulation increases the antioxidant effect of the molecule. Furthermore, the reduction of biofilm growth resulted extremely high with MLC being 64.74% ± 6.2% and 83.74% ± 9.95%, respectively, at 0.5 mg/mL and 2 mg/mL. In conclusion, this work represents a favorable technological strategy against diseases in which bacterial biofilm is relevant, such as cystic fibrosis.