Fluorescent imino and secondary amino chitosans as potential sensing biomaterials

A variety of fluorescent imino and secondary amino chitosans were synthesized under very mild conditions by reaction of the biopolymer amino functions with aromatic aldehydes in an acidified methanolic suspension. Simultaneous reactions of several aldehydes with chitosan were successfully carried out, and kinetic studies showed that 1-pyrenecarboxaldehyde reacts the fastest among them. An unprecedented study on the evaluation of the degree of N-substitution (DS, ranging from 31.7% to 12.0%) for the chitosan Schiff bases by using solid state CPMAS 13C NMR is performed. A linear correlation between the DS obtained for the secondary amino chitosans by 1H NMR (55.3-10.2%) and those obtained by CPMAS 13C NMR (34.4-13.8%) has allowed us to calculate an empirical correlation factor that could be applied on chitosan-based aromatic systems. The new chiral-labelled chitosan derivatives exhibit a stable fluorescent behaviour, which was used to explore solvent sensoring applications.