What is the difference between chitin, chitosan and oligochitosan?
Time:2020.05.26

What is the difference between chitin, chitosan and chitooligosaccharide? With the continuous development of glycobiology in recent years, chitin, chitosan and chitooligosaccharide have been discovered one after another, and put into research and development, especially in the field of health care products, these products are sold in full swing. Gold chitooligosaccharide analysis of the correlation between the three, and what is the difference?

Chitin was discovered by French scholar blakeno in 1811 and extracted from crustacean shell by augiel in 1823. Chitin was named chitin and translated as chitin. Appearance and property: light beige to white. Chitin is the first practical product and the first approved "functional food" in Japan. However, chitin is insoluble in water, alkali, general acid and organic solvent, but only partially soluble in concentrated acid. It is decomposed by chitinase and lysozyme in human gastrointestinal tract, so its absorption rate is very low, the dosage is large, and the reaction is as high as more than 70%. Chitin is chemically treated to remove its acetyl group, which turns into chitosan.

Chitosan, the chemical name of chitosan is polyglucosamine (1-4) - 2-amino-b-d glucose, which is obtained by deacetylation of chitin. Generally speaking, chitosan can be called chitosan if more than 55% of N-acetyl group is removed. Chitosan can be dissolved in dilute acid, which is a step ahead of chitin. However, chitin and chitosan are both macromolecules with molecular weight ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions, which are insoluble in water. Chitin was deacetylated to get chitosan, which was further degraded to chitosan oligosaccharide.

Chitosan oligosaccharide uses chitosan as raw material to degrade chitosan into small molecules, which is called chitosan oligosaccharide. Its molecular weight is about 3000DA and its polymerization degree is 2-20. Therefore, chitooligosaccharide itself is a mixture of monosaccharide and chitosaccharide, each of which has its own function. Chitosan oligosaccharide can be directly dissolved in water, the water solubility is more than 99%, the absorption rate of human body is 99.88%, the dosage and reaction after taking it are greatly reduced, the effect of directly participating in the physiological regulation of human body is more significant than chitosan, and it has many functions superior to high molecular weight chitosan. In general, the degradation ratio is 1-5%, and the remaining 95% of chitosan is eliminated through the human intestinal system. Therefore, chitosan oligosaccharide is more effective than chitosan in increasing the body's immune function.

Gold chitooligosaccharide analysis of the specific differences between chitooligosaccharide and chitosan

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