Ultrasonic degradation of N-di and trihydroxy benzoyl chitosans and its effects on antioxidant activity

•The sonication of CS, CS-DHBA and CS-THBA were investigated.•The molecular weight of chitosan decreased obviously after ultrasound treatment.•The molecular weights of CS-DHBA and CS-THBA decreased slowly with increasing sonication time.•The rates of degradation follow the order: CS4 > CS8 > CS12 > CS-THBA4 > CS-THBA8 ≈ CS-DHBA4 > CS-THBA12 > CS-DHBA8 > CS-DHBA12.•The antioxidant activity of CS increased after sonication.

Modified chitosans with 3,4-dihydroxy benzoyl groups (CS-DHBA) and 3,4,5-trihydroxy benzoyl groups (CS-THBA) were synthesized and their chemical structures were determined by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. Then, ultrasonic degradation of CS, CS-DHBA and CS-THBA in 1% acetic acid solution was investigated. The kinetics studies of degradation were followed by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The results indicated that the weight-average molecular weight of chitosan decreased obviously after ultrasound treatment, but molecular weights of CS-DHBA and CS-THBA decreased slowly with increasing sonication time. Degradation kinetics model based on 1/Mt−1/M0 = kt was used to estimate the degradation rate constant. It was found that the rates of degradation of CS-DHBA and CS-THBA are lower than CS, and follow the order: CS4 > CS8 > CS12 > CS-THBA4 > CS-THBA8 ≈ CS-DHBA4 > CS-THBA12 > CS-DHBA8 > CS-DHBA12. The antioxidant activity of the CS, CS-DHBA and CS-THBA before and after sonication was investigated by the radical scavenging activity method using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The DPPH scavenging free radical capacity of CS-THBA and CS-DHBA increased up to 89% and 74% respectively, when the concentration reached 6 μg/ml. The ultrasonic treatment of CS-DHBA and CS-THBA after 30 min decreased the DPPH free radical scavenging activity but ultrasonic treatment of CS increased the DPPH free radical scavenging activity.