Physicochemical characterization of chitin and chitosan obtained from resting eggs of ceriodaphnia quadrangula (branchiopoda: Cladocera: daphniidae)

Chitin and chitosan were produced from the structures of the resting eggs of Ceriodaphnia quadrangula (Muller, 1785), of which tons are naturally produced in a dammed lake. On a dry weight basis, 16-17% chitin and 11% chitosan were extracted from the resting egg structures. The degree of deacetylation of the extracted chitosan was determined to be 80%. The produced chitin and chitosan materials were characterized using FT-IR, TGA, XRD and SEM. The crystalline index value of the chitin was measured as 74%. DTG_max values of chitin and chitosan were determined to be 381°C and 300°C, respectively. Based on a review of surface morphology, it was observed that both chitin and chitosan consist of nanofibre structures. We take the advantage of the excessive resting eggs production in adverse condition in the lake to produce an economically feasible source of chitin and chitosan. We conclude that α-chitin and chitosan produced from resting eggs of C. quadrangula can be used as an alternative source of these materials.