Deracination of chitosan from locally sourced Millipede (Eurymerodesmus spp.) and its spectroscopic and physio-chemical properties

Presently, Chitosan is obtained from chitin extracted from the exoskeleton of Arthropods, fungi, Crustaceans and this limits the availability of this biopolymer despite its very increasing demand due to application versatility. In an effort to expand the sources of obtaining this biopolymer, this work presents the extraction and characterization from a species of millipede Eurymerodesmus spp., it was obtained by the conventional demineralization, deproteinization and deacetylation using 5%, 4%, and 3% HCl acid for demineralization. Characterization was done using FTIR spectroscopy, SEM and TEM microscopy. Proximate analysis carried out presents the percentage ash as 3.05 (3% HCl), 2.98 (4% HCl) and 2.63 (5% HCl). Degree of deacetylation obtained are 51.20% for 3% HCl and 59.30% for 4% HCl and 66.30% for 5% HCl. SEM results presented the samples as platelets with spherical configuration and the TEM results confirmed this. The products are in Nano sizes of 100 nm and 200 nm. Chitosan has found applications in areas as cosmetics, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and bioengineering as a result of its biodegradability, non-toxicity, biocompatibility and its eco-friendly nature. Chitosan’s potential to form dimers, chelate metal ions, form films, cross link with poly anions and transition metal ions and high mechanical stability, makes it a choice material in Nano fabrications, molecular hierarchical architectures as well as targeted delivery systems. Millipede (Eurymerodesmus spp.) can be considered as an alternative source of chitosan to shrimps, prawns, crabs, fungi, and mushroom and obtainable from places that cannot easily access these aquatic raw material resources for chitosan.