Intermolecular Interaction and the Extended Wormlike Chain Conformation of Chitin in NaOH/Urea Aqueous Solution

The intra- and intermolecular interactions of chitin in NaOH/urea aqueous system were studied by a combination of NMR measurements (including 13C NMR, 23Na NMR, and 15N NMR) and differential scanning calorimetry. The results revealed that the NaOH and chitin formed a hydrogen-bonded complex that was surrounded by the urea hydrates to form a sheath-like structure, leading to the good dissolution. The optimal concentration range, in which chitin was molecularly dispersed in NaOH/urea aqueous, was found to investigate the chain conformation in the dilute solution with a combination of static and dynamic light scattering. The weight-average molecular weight (Mw), radii of gyration (⟨Rg⟩z), and hydrodynamic radii (⟨Rh⟩z) values of chitin were determined, and the structure-sensitive parameter (ρ) and persistent length (Lp) were calculated to be >2.0 and ∼30 nm, respectively, suggesting an extended wormlike chain conformation. The visualized images from TEM, cryo-TEM, and AFM indicated that, chitin nanofibers were fabricated from the parallel aggregation of chitin chains in NaOH/urea system. This work would provide a theoretical guidance for constructing novel chitin-based nanomaterials via “bottom-up” method at the molecular level.