ABSTRACT
The depolymerization of chitosan could be carried out by acid hydrolysis using 2 M hydrochloric acid solution. The desired molecular weight could be obtained by changing the reaction time. IR spectrum spectroscopy demonstrated that there was no structure change during depolymerization. X-ray diffraction results indicate that the crystallinity of LMWCs is decreased compared to HMWC. The decomposition temperature of chitosan was molecular weight dependent. There is slight increase in the degree of deacetylation of depolymerized LMWC compared to the native high molecular weight chitosan. The solubility of chitosan increased with decreasing molecular weight. Chitosan has a positive zeta potential and its value affected by the pH, molecular weight, DDA, and concentration