Preparation of water soluble chitosan by hydrolysis with commercial α-amylase containing chitosanase activity

Water soluble chitosan (WSC) was prepared by hydrolysing chitosan using α-amylase. The degradation was monitored by WSC recovery and the WSC structure was characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The optimal hydrolysis conditions were found to be at pH 5, 50 °C, 20 mg α-amylase in the reaction solution, with a reaction time of 4 h. Under these conditions, the average molecular weight of chitosan decreased to 730 Da. The resulting products were composed of chitooligosaccharides of DP 3–7. The hydrolysate was neutralised with 1 M NaOH, filtered, concentrated to 16% (w/v), precipitated with five volumes of ethanol to one volume of the concentrated hydrolysate solution, and dried at 60 °C for 3 h to yield a white powder. The WSC content of the product and the yield were 96.2% and 91.2% (w/w), respectively.

► The concept of enzymatic preparation of water soluble chitosan (WSC) is modest.
► The content of WSC in the product and the yield of glucosamine are very high.
► α-Amylase is commercially available enzymes.