Marine waste to a functional biomaterial: Green facile synthesis of modified-β-chitin from Uroteuthis duvauceli pens (gladius).

Chitin is the second most abundant biomass on earth but exploited the least. In this study, wastes from Uroteuthis duvauceli was utilized to extract 38.79 ± 1.38% dry weight of β-chitin using a new combination of decolorization, demineralization, and deproteinization processes. β-chitin was then derivatized with acrylamide in an efficient and green aqueous 8 wt% NaOH/4 wt% urea solvent via one-pot etherification. The success of carbamoylethyl ether of chitin and carboxyethyl chitin synthesis was confirmed by FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, XRD, SEM, TGA, and DSC. The synthesized acrylamide-modified β-chitin derivatives were shown to exhibit water solubility and lower decomposition temperatures, which are primarily due to the disruption of the crystalline structure of β-chitin upon its dissolution and modification. In this era of climate change, this desirable strategy of harnessing β-chitin from wastes and converting it to value-added products is highly sought to mitigate the continuing ecological and economical imbalance brought about by marine-food wastes. To the best of our knowledge, this novel contribution is the first to report biorefinery of squid pens from this particular species and functionalizing it with acrylamide in a facile manner, thus, offering greater potential for future development to biocompatible chitin-based biomaterials intended for industrial, pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.