American Journal of Applied Science and Technology
97
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajast
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue 06 2025
PAGE NO.
97-100
10.37547/ajast/Volume05Issue06-22
Physicochemical Properties of Carboxymethyl Chitosan
and Its Application in The Chemical Industry
Jurakulova Sitorabonu Bahodirovna
Doctoral student of Bukhara State University, assistant of the Bukhara State Medical Institute, Uzbekistan
Nurutdinova Feruza Muiddinovna
Head of the Department of Biochemistry of the Bukhara State Medical Institute named after Abu Ali Ibn Sino, Uzbekistan
Received:
25 April 2025;
Accepted:
21 May 2025;
Published:
23 June 2025
Abstract:
This article discusses the synthesis of carboxymethyl chitosan from various molecules. The mass of
chitosan, including low mass, has been determined in multivariate tests and averages 50
–
190 kDa, with a median
size of 210
–
300 kDa and higher. Regarding antioxidant and moisturizing properties, carboxymethyl chitosan
improved water solubility by 96%, 90%, and 89%, respectively. Natural chitosan resulted in the enhancement of the
viscosity properties of carboxymethyl with higher molecular weight. As for the antioxidant properties, the radical
scavenging activity values were 1.70 and 1.37 mg/mL, and thus the molecule had high antioxidant radical
scavenging properties. Distilled water, propylene glycol, and pure Chitosan of three molecular weights have lower
solubility and weaker antioxidant activity than carboxymethyl.
Keywords:
Selectivity, hyaluronic acid, titrimetry, viscometry.
Introduction:
Chitosan is generally a compound with very low
toxicity, high biodegradability, various wound
healing, antibacterial, and gelling properties.
Chitosan is an inexhaustible material with many
applications not only in the chemical industry, but
also in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food
industries. Now, it is even penetrating the
biotechnology industry. The use of chitosan is limited
due to its neutrality and insolubility in solutions.
Therefore, increasing the solubility of chitosan is a
priority, as it is convenient for many applications in
both the chemical and agricultural industries and has
a high level of suitability. Carboxymethyl chitosan is a
chemical modification that improves water solubility,
and its water solubility properties and applications
are highly dependent on its structural properties and
medium degree. The state of carboxymethylation
(transition of amino acid or hydroxyl groups into each
other) and the average number of hydroxyl groups
substituted by carboxymethyl groups are 4 and 5,
respectively, and these chitosans are obtained by
alternately replacing
–
OH groups with
–
CH2COOH
groups. Functional groups such as O-, N-, and N, O-
carboxymethyl chitosan are formed by the reaction of
chitosan with monohalogenated carboxylic acids. This
substance, namely the carboxychitosan compound, is
very convenient to use in combination with
temperature, and the fact that it combines various
properties, which makes it very convenient to use
different reaction conditions to control the selectivity
of the reaction.
The antioxidant activity of chitosan carboxyl is due to
the exchange of active hydroxyl and amino groups.
Amino acids in polymer chains can participate in the
neutralization of free radicals. Based on various
currently available data, it can be assumed that the
carboxymethyl compound of chitosan is a better
antioxidant than the native one, and its solubility in
various solutions is higher. Chitosan, especially in
terms of its ability to reduce acidity and superoxide
oxidizing properties, can demonstrate the ability to
chelate radicals as well as iron ions in solutions. On
American Journal of Applied Science and Technology
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American Journal of Applied Science and Technology (ISSN: 2771-2745)
the other hand, natural chitosan compounds are
associated with the ability of chitosan to absorb
moisture and retain it. It has been found that
moisture content increases with decreasing
absorption capacity. Chitosan is known to improve
moisturizing properties. Carboxymethyl chitosan has
a high water-retaining capacity.
The ability of carboxymethylcellulose to retain water,
combined with its positive electrical charge and high
molecular weight, makes it widely used. When
applied to the skin, it moisturizes it very effectively.
Carboxymethyl chitosan solution is comparable in
water-holding capacity to 20% propylene glycol. The
compound, with a viscosity equivalent to hyaluronic
acid, retains moisture perfectly. In addition, it can be
seen that the ability of carboxymethyl chitosan to
absorb and retain moisture is significantly improved
by using highly active 3d metals with the presence of
intermolecular hydrogen bonds within the molecular
chains. The resulting gel was formed by adding
carboxymethyl chitosan as a moisturizing agent. The
cosmetic is also ideal for the skin, and the positive
feedback from customers who use it has led to even
wider use of this substance.
In cosmetics, humectants are used to increase the
water content of the upper layers of the skin. The
activity of carboxymethyl chitosan as a wetting
polymer depends on the cationic charge, molecular
weight, and hydrophobicity of the polymer. Positively
charged ions help neutralize negatively charged ions
in the skin. Carboxymethyl chitosan was effectively
synthesized and characterized by FTIR spectroscopy.
Changes in biological properties, including water
solubility, antioxidant properties, and moisturizing
efficiency, were evident. Carboxymethyl chitosan
reduced antioxidant properties but provided more
pronounced moisturizing properties. Carboxymethyl
chitosan improved water solubility by about 89%
compared to chitosan. Its height is also determined
by various methods. The wetting effect was
maximum, and the same effect was observed when
0.5% carboxymethylene was applied to pig skin, and
it was found to be an effective water-soluble polymer.
It is a high-viscosity stabilizer that can be successfully
used as an emulsion in pharmaceuticals and
cosmetics, and is currently classified as a thickener. It
is advisable to further study this biopolymer for its
effect on the skin, determine its composition, and
then use it. Deacetylation of chitin yields chitosan, a
widely studied polymer for pharmaceutical and non-
pharmaceutical applications. According to these
applications and information from various sources,
the limiting factor in the use of this compound is the
solubility of carboxymethyl chitosan. Carboxymethyl
chitosan helps overcome this obstacle due to its good
solubility in water. Although there are many studies
related to carboxymethyl chitosan, it is worth taking
a closer look at the data on this topic and addressing
this limitation. Therefore, this article attempts to
highlight the latest research results regarding the
synthesis, characterization, and application of
carboxymethyl
chitosan,
especially
in
the
pharmaceutical field. Carboxymethyl chitosan was
synthesized by methods such as direct alkylation,
reductive alkylation, and Michael addition, and this
material was thoroughly characterized down to the
nanoparticle level using FTIR, NMR spectroscopy,
DSC,
titration,
viscometry,
gel
permeation
chromatography, X-ray diffraction, and capillary zone
electrophoresis.
The carboxyl group may be present on the O or N
atom or on both atoms of the chitosan molecule.
Carboxymethyl chitosan has modulated physical and
biological properties such as chelation, sorption,
moisture retention, antioxidant activity in cells,
antibacterial, and antiapoptotic properties etc.
Carboxymethyl chitosan is used for delayed or
controlled drug delivery, pH-dependent drug
delivery, DNA delivery as a permeation enhancer, etc.
Carboxymethyl chitosan can be modified by
alkylation,
grafting,
and
other
methods.
Carboxyalkylation of chitosan leads to the formation
of carboxyethyl- and carboxybutylchitosan. These
analogs of carboxymethylchitosan have proven useful
in justifying the use of chitosan. To obtain
carboxymethyl chitosan, Chitosan was reacted with
monochloroacetic acid under alkaline conditions.
Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) chitosan ratio, time, and
molar ratio are used to evaluate the effect of
monochloroacetic acid on the chitosan reaction yield
and the properties of carboxymethyl chitosan in full-
factorial core composite structures. An optimization
strategy based on response surface methodology in
combination with groups that perform the desired
function is used to optimize this process. The
presence of carboxymethylation was confirmed by
FTIR and NMR spectroscopy. The optimal conditions
for the carboxymethylation process were 12.4, 10.6
h, and 5 min for the molar ratio of sodium hydroxide
(NaOH) to chitosan and monochloroacetic acid
chitosan, respectively. Under these optimal
conditions, carboxymethyl chitosan with DS¯ 1.86 and
solubility of 99.6% can be obtained. X-ray diffraction
and thermogravimetric analysis showed that the
crystallinity and thermal stability of the derivatives
are lower than those of chitosan, which leads to a
decrease in carboxylation with an increase in DS¯.
Today, alcohols and oxidizers are widely used as
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American Journal of Applied Science and Technology (ISSN: 2771-2745)
antiviral agents for antiviral disinfection, i.e., specific
gene products that create reliable protection against
viral invasion.
However, these compounds are environmentally
unfriendly, have a short lifespan, and may cause
various health problems. Therefore, this study aims to
develop metal-free and eco-friendly quaternary
chitosans with excellent long-term virucidal activity.
To evaluate this, mono- and dicarboxymethyl
chitosans were prepared using the quaternary
structures [2-acryloyloxyethyl] -trimethylammonium
chloride and glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride.
This study further examined the influence of
quaternary functional group, charge density, and
molecular weight on antiviral properties. It was
suggested that high charge density, length of alkyl
linkers, and hydrophobic interactions influence the
complex membrane activity of carboxymethyl
chitosan, which prevents viral entry into the cell. Data
from
various
sources
have
shown
that
heterogeneously functionalized Chitosan exhibits
excellent antioxidant activity against both the
enveloped virus ph6 and the more complex viruses
phX174 and MS2. These tetrahedral chitosan
derivatives are used as effective antiviral agents,
hand and surface disinfectants, and in other
biomedical applications. Significant progress has
been made in the development of chitosan
production technologies in the chemical industry.
Therefore, the use of carboxymethyl chitosan in the
cultivation of insects and fungi (insect biotechnology),
as well as in the fermentation processes of fungi, is
one of the new achievements in this field. These new
sources not only confirm the existence of a new
source of chitosan, but also prove that chitosan has
one of the excellent properties that can be easily and
safely used in food, medicine, and pharmaceuticals.
These existing sources are used in the national
economy to overcome the difficulties often
encountered when using chitosan compounds
obtained from marine organisms, and, at the same
time, being a by-product of the food industry. The
observation that different degrees of deacetylation
and molecular weight of chitosan have a significant
effect on its properties and hence on its function,
especially in tissue engineering, expands the
possibilities of its adaptation to specific applications,
and the rapidly growing demand for chitosan in
connection with the wound healing process, the
expansion of its properties, synthesis methods and
the increase in the number of synthesized
compounds, methods of chemical modification and
adaptation of its properties greatly expand the scope
of chitosan. Although marine crustaceans are mainly
used in the food industry, chitosan is obtained from
fungi and insects. Carboxymethyl chitosan is
becoming an increasingly important raw material due
to its obvious availability, which will continue in the
future. Chitosan will be an important strategic raw
material of the future.
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