Analytical Sciences

Determination of Chitin Based on the Colorimetric Assay of Glucosamine in Acidic Hydrolysate

Hajime KATANO, Masahiro TAKAKUWA, Hajime HAYAKAWA, and Hisashi KIMOTO

Department of Bioscience, Fukui Prefectural University, Eiheiji, Fukui 910-1195, Japan

A colorimetric method for the glucosamine (GlcN) assay was applied for the determination of chitin, which can be hydrolyzed to produce GlcN. A 10-mg sample was mixed with 10 mL of a 5 mol/L HCl aqueous solution, and the mixture was kept at 100°C for 12 h. Under these conditions, chitin was completely depolymerized and deacetylated to produce GlcN, even when the sample was a crab shell. A 20-μL aliquot of the hydrolysate was mixed with 20 μL of a 5 mol/L NaOH aqueous solution and 200 μL of a 50 mmol/L Na₂SiO₃, 600 mmol/L Na₂MoO₄, 1.5 mol/L CH₃COOH and 30% (v/v) dimethyl sulfoxide solution. The mixture was kept at 70°C for 30 min. In the mixture, GlcN reduced the Mo(VI) species to form a blue molybdosilicate anion, which gave an absorbance maximum at around 750 nm. Since N-acetylglucosamine and chitin oligosaccharides could not render the reaction mixture blue, GlcN in the hydrolysate could be assayed colorimetrically with high selectivity. When a standard chitin sample was examined, the GlcN concentration in the hydrolysate was determined to be 0.97 ± 0.02 g/L (as hydrochloride salt), indicating that the sample contained 10.0 ± 0.2 mg chitin (as an N-acetylglucosamine homopolymer). Calcium cation, amino acids, and proteins did not interfere with the GlcN assay. Thus, the proposed method was successfully applied to determine chitin in a crab shell sample.

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