CHITIN HANDBOOK

R.A.A. Muzzarelli and M.G. Peter, eds., Atec, Grottammare, 1997.

ISBN 88-86889-01-1

Independent unsolicited evaluations

"It is unusual to find a methods handbook, and a large one as that, entirely devoted to a single polysaccharide …. The size of the book certainly shows that there is no dearth of material on the subject. Indeed, the handbook deals with almost every procedure that falls under the common denominator "chitin" (or its deacetylation product, chitosan), ranging from analytical methods to industrial applications and even experiments to accompany a course on the subject …. There are well-written chapters here that may be really useful to investigators."

E. Cabib
National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda

"In conclusion, the present Handbook is an useful reference book, and, at the same time, a practical guide directed to students and scientists, both at the academic and industrial levels, interested to work with this polysaccharide and its derivatives."

Revista de Plasticos Modernos,
Madrid

CHITIN HANDBOOK

Contents

1. Analysis of chitin and chitosan in biological materials.

C. Jeuniaux and M.F. Voss-Foucart. A specific enzymatic method for the quantitative estimation of chitin. M. Spindler-Barth and U. Buss. ELISA for determination of chitin and chitosan. R.A.A. Muzzarelli. The determination of minute quantities of chitin in tissues. C. Plassard. Assay of fungal chitin and estimation of mycelial biomass. W. Peters and I. Latka. Wheat germ agglutinin-gold labelling. R. Dargent, N. Sejalon-Delmas, C. Roux and C. Savy. Use of colloidal gold-labelled wheat germ agglutinin for ultrastructural localization of chitin in fungal cell walls.

2. Derivatives of chitin and chitosan.

R.A.A. Muzzarelli. Some modified chitosans and their niche applications. L. Szosland. Di-O-butyrylchitin. G. Lang, G. Maresch and S. Birkel. Hydroxyalkyl chitosans. G. Lang, H. Wendel and S. Birkel. Quaternary chitosan salts. S. Hirano. N-Acyl-, N-arylidene- and N-alkylidene chitosans, and their hydrogels. T. Mitani and H. Ishii. Synthesis of chitosan-amino acid and chitosan-peptide conjugates and their use in heavy metal uptake.

3. Characterization of chitins and chitosans.

M. Terbojevich and A. Cosani. Molecular weight determination of chitin and chitosan. A. Isogai. Molecular mass distribution of chitin and chitosan. R.A.A. Muzzarelli, R. Rocchetti, V. Stanic and M. Weckx. Methods for the determination of the degree of acetylation of chitin and chitosan. J.E. Melvik, G. Brekka and M. Dornish. The determination of the degree of acetylation of chitosan salts. G.A.F. Roberts. Determination of the degree of N-acetylation of chitin and chitosan. Y. Inoue. NMR Determination of the degree of acetylation. A. Ebert and H.-P. Fink. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy of chitin and chitosan.

4. Glucosamine, N-acetylglucosamine, and chito-oligosaccharides.

B.C.R. Zhu and R.A. Laine. Depolymerization of chitin with chitinases. R.A.A. Muzzarelli. Depolymerization of chitins and chitosans with hemicellulase, lysozyme, papain and lipases. O. Scheel and J. Thiem. Cleavage of chitin by means of aqueous hydrochloric acid and isolation of chito-oligosaccharides. D. Schanzenbach, C. Matern and M.G. Peter. Cleavage of chitin by means of sulfuric acid / acetic anhydride and isolation of peracetylated chito-oligosaccharides. G.G. Allan and M. Peyron. Depolymerization of chitosan by means of nitrous acid. H. Kuyama and T. Ogawa. Synthesis of chitosan oligomers. A. Martinou, I. Tsigos and V. Bouriotis. Enzymatic deacetylation of chito-oligosaccharides. D. Schanzenbach and M.G. Peter. Chromatography of chito-oligosaccharides. D. Schanzenbach and M.G. Peter. NMR spectroscopy of chito-oligosaccharides. S. Haebel, J. Peter-Katalinic and M.G. Peter. Mass spectrometry of chito-oligosaccharides. D. Schanzenbach, C. Matern and M.G. Peter. Synthesis of glycosylamines and glycopeptides. J. Beliczey and U. Kragl. From chitin to N-acetylneuraminic acid: N-Acetylglucosamine as intermediate.

5. Enzymes involved in hydrolysis and synthesis.

K.-D. Spindler. Chitinase and chitosanase assays. J. Grenier, J. Trudel and A. Asselin. Gel electrophoretic analysis of chitinase, chitosanase and chitin deacetylase. K.-D. Spindler and C. Rapp. Detection of chitin degrading enzymes on gels. K.-D. Spindler, M. Feix and M. Spindler-Barth. Arthropod chitinases. S. Haran, H. Schickler, A. Oppenheim and I. Chet. Characterization and in vivo detection of chitinase activity. H. Draborg, S. Kauppinen, S. Christgau and H. Dalboge. A sensitive plate assay for the detection and expression cloning endochitinases from Trichoderma harzianum. C.E. Vorgias. Overproduction of the recombinant chitinase A from Serratia marcescens in E. coli: purification, biochemical and biophysical characterization. V.P. Varlamov, A.V. Ilyina and N.Y. Tatarinova. Isolation of individual chitinases from a crude supernatant produced by Streptomyces kurssanovii. K. Okazaki, H. Maki, T. Imachi and S. Hayakawa. Two chitinases from Streptomyces sp. J-13-3. M. Mitsutomi. Purification of family 19 chitinases from Streptomyces griseus. R. Brzezinski, I. Boucher, A. Dupuy and B. Plouffe. Actinomycetes as model organisms for the study of chitosanases. D.Y. Kobayashi and M.A. Holtman. Isolation of chitinolytic bacteria for biological control of plant diseases. A.C. Terwisscha van Scheltinga and B.W. Dijkstra. Crystal structure of the plant chitinase hevamine. J.-P. Ley, F. Schweikart and M.G. Peter. Chitinase inhibitors. M. Spindler-Barth. Quantitative determination of chitin biosynthesis. M. Mulisch and G. Schermuly. Chitin synthesis in lower organisms. C. Mayer and D.M. Rast. High-pH anion-exchange chromatography analysis of hydrolysis and transglycosylation catalyzed by chitinolytic enzymes.

6. Applications of chitin and chitosan.

W. Pittermann, V. Hörner and R. Wachter. Efficiency of high molecular weight chitosan in skin care applications. M. Ito and Y. Hidaka. A chitosan-bonded hydroxyapatite bone filling material. H. Onishi, T. Nagai and Y. Machida. Conjugates of drugs with chitosan and N-succinyl chitosan. I. Genta, P. Giunchedi, F. Pavanetto, B. Conti, P. Perugini and U. Conte. Preparation methods for chitosan microparticulate drug delivery systems. V. Zecchi, K. Aiedeh and I. Orienti. Controlled drug delivery systems. D. Quong, A. Groboillot, G.D. Darling, D. Poncelet and R.J. Neufeld. Microencapsulation within cross-linked chitosan membranes. M. Hisamatsu. Preparation of magnetic support from chitin and immobilization of isoamylase. V. Crescenzi and A.A. De Angelis. New chitosan chemical networks: some synthetic procedures. E. Guibal, C. Milot and J. Roussy. Chitosan gel beads for metal ion recovery. Y. Kurauchi and K. Ohga. Fiber-optic ethanol sensor having a chitosan poly(vinyl alcohol) membrane as a cladding. H. Struszczyk. Preparation of chitosan fibres. H. Struszczyk. Coating of textile fibres with chitosan. K. Sakurai. Chitosan ultrafiltration membranes. T. Uragami. Preparation and characteristics of chitosan membranes. S.E. Harding. Chitosan-mucin complexes. Characterization by sedimentation velocity analytical ultracentrifugation. J.A. Ratto, C.C. Chen and R.B. Blumstein. Chitosan/polyamide blends for catalytic reactivity: methods for blend preparation and reactivity measurement.

7. Preparation and production of chitin and chitosan

H.K. No and S.P. Meyers. Preparation of chitin and chitosan. K. Kurita. Preparation of squid beta-chitin. T.K. Lebskaya and Y.F. Dvinin. Assessment of the chitin-rich fraction from Kamchatka crab (Paralithodes camtschatica) acclimatized in the Barents Sea. A. Martinou, I. Tsigos and V. Bouriotis. Preparation of chitosan by enzymatic deacetylation. H.J. Bader and E. Birkholz. Teaching chitin chemistry.