The influence of c18-fatty acids on chemical structure of chitosan derivatives and their thermal properties

Chitosan derivatives with a series of fatty acids (FA) have been developed using simultaneous N- and O-acylation reaction by the combination of two ways of conducting the reaction, i.e. a carbodiimide catalysis and ionic amino group protection. The chemical structure of chitosan derivatives as well as the characterization of the FA substitution degree were done by the IR spectra analysis. The correlation between the substitution of the chitosan functional groups as well as the saturation of FA and the changes of structural and thermal properties of the derivatives has been presented.