THE DRY SPINNING OF DIBUTYRYLCHITIN FIBERS

Dibutyrylchitin was prepared by treatment of krill chitin with butyric anhydride in the presence of perchloric acid as a catalyst of reaction carried out at 25 to 30 degrees C. Dibutyrylchitin is easily soluble in several organic solvents, such as acetone, alcohols, methylene chloride, and dimethylformamide. Samples of polymers with molecular weights high enough to form fibers were obtained, and dibutyrylchitin fibers were made by a simple method of dry spinning its 20 to 22% solutions in acetone. Select properties of dibutyrylchitin fibers were investigated. It was found that dibutyrylchitin fibers had tensile properties similar to or better than those of chitin and some chitin derivatives described in the literature. An attempt to convert dibutyrylchitin fibers to chitin fibers was made. It was found that chitin fibers with good tensile properties could be obtained by alkaline hydrolysis of dibutyrylchitin fibers without destroying the fiber structure. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.