The conversion of chitin to chitosan involved deacetylation
using the process suggested by Kurita et al. (2003). The parameters
employed (i.e. reaction duration, temperature and concentration of
alkaline reagent) were as follows: a suspension of 1 g of chitin in
50 mL of aqueous sodium hydroxide, as deacetylation reagent (50%
by weight) was mixed at fixed temperature (90e100 C) under
constant stirring. After 3e5 h, the solid was filtered, washed with
water and 80% (v/v) alcohol until the filtrate was neutral. Then it
was oven-dried at 80 C overnight.