ABSTRACT

The deacetylated form of chitin has enormous areas of application.. The research work is aimed at the production of polymer film by the extraction of chitosan from L.squarrosulus (mushroom) collected from Afuze market and C. africana (shrimp) collected from Yanga market, both in Edo State, using a chemical process involving deproteinisation, demineralisation and deacetylation.  L. squallosulus was deproteinised at varied concentration (1 M, 2 M, 3 M and 4 M) and temperature (60 °C, 80 °C and 100 °C). C. africana was carried out at 3  M and 60°C. Their products were now demineralised and deacetylated at 3 M and 60 °C. A biuret test analysis was carried out on 3 M, 60 °C and 4, M 100 °C of L. squarrosulus chitosan and C. africana with the later showed clearer positive result for application. Physico-chemical and mechanical properties of composite films chitosan from C. africana and gelatin composition (C50/G50, C70/G30, C30/G70) plasticised with glycerol were investigated. Results from flexibility analysis and refractive index indicated that films with higher chitosan are flexible and more refractive finding a much more application in making lenses of higher magnification. The chitosan from L. squarrosulus (3 M, 60 °C), C. africana and C.africana chitosan composite films were characterised using FT-IR. FTIR spectra indicated the presence of functional groups associated with different bands, the intensities and stretching established that the samples were chitosan. The FTIR spectra of a compact homogeneous structure films showed the occurrence of reaction in the C. africana chitosan. SEM analysis done on chitosan from C. africana indicated morphological differences of ×300, ×500, ×1000, ×1500.