What are the structures and properties of carboxymethyl chitin?

As a medical dressing, one of the main disadvantages of chitin fiber is its poor water absorption. Compared with another kind of calcium alginate fiber, which is widely used in medical dressings, chitin fiber can not form a gel with moisturizing effect after contacting with wound exudate, and its ability to absorb liquid is much lower than that of calcium alginate medical dressings. Literature shows that carboxymethyl chitin has strong water absorption performance. Treating chitin fiber with chloroacetic acid and introducing carboxymethyl cellulose with strong hygroscopicity into the fiber structure can greatly improve its ability to absorb liquid. The hygroscopicity of carboxymethyl chitin fiber was studied. The hygroscopicity of untreated samples was10.8g/g/g. With the increase of carboxymethyl degree, the hygroscopicity of treated samples was obviously improved compared with untreated samples. When the carboxymethyl degree is 40.80%, the hygroscopicity reaches 15.0g/g, which is 38.9% higher than the original sample. It can be observed in the experiment that when liquid contacts with pure chitin nonwovens, it is difficult for liquid to be absorbed into nonwovens because of the hydrophobicity of the material, and carboxymethyl chitin nonwovens are easily wetted by water. The structural changes of chitin medical dressing after moisture absorption can be seen that chitin fibers in nonwoven fabric mechanism expand slightly after meeting water, and the absorbed liquid mainly remains in the middle of capillary holes formed between fibers, which is basically the same as the moisture absorption characteristics of cotton gauze. Excerpted from/news/2011388 5215.htm for further reading/