Short noteRadiation effects on dihydroxypropyl-chitosan

Dihydroxypropyl-chitosan (DHP-chitosan), a derivative of chitosan used in practical applications, is hardly soluble in water because of the strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding. In order to improve its even more advanced practical applications, some further modifications of the polymer using electron beam radiation technique were carried out. In the current work, diluted lactic acid was used to improve the solubility of DHP-chitosan as a subversive of hydrogen bonding. The effects of electron beam radiation on the DHP-chitosan in solid state and solution state were investigated. It was found that solid state and low concentrated solution state result in degradation and high concentrated solution state is favorable for crosslinking. And a simple, effective strategy to achieve a novel DHP-chitosan hydrogel without any crosslinking agents was developed in a high concentrated polymer solution system under irradiation.