Evaluation of single-point equations to determine intrinsic viscosity of sodium alginate and chitosan with high deacetylation degree

A viscometric study of two polyelectrolytes, chitosan (CH, with 94% deacetylation degree, in a solute-mixture of acetic acid (0.1 mol L−1) and sodium chloride (0.2 mol L−1) and sodium alginate (SA, with 62% M-units, in sodium chloride (0.1 mol L−1), was performed at 25 °C. Five different equations were applied to calculate intrinsic viscosity [η]: Huggins, Kraemer and Schulz-Blaschke (SB) by graphical extrapolation; Solomon-Ciuta, Deb-Chanterjee and again SB, by faster single-point determination. Viscometric constants were calculated employing graphical extrapolation equations. Average molar mass (‾Mv) values were determined by applying the Mark-Houwink-Sakurada equation. For the samples analyzed, Huggins equation was the most suitable to calculate [η] and‾Mv by graphical extrapolation for chitosan, while Schulz-Blaschke and Solomon-Ciuta were adequate for single-point determinations of sodium alginate. Viscometric constants indicated that the aqueous mixture of acetic acid and sodium chloride is a poor solvent for chitosan, while sodium alginate is well solvated by aqueous sodium chloride.