ABSTRACT
Chitosan was extracted from the oriental hornet, Vespa orientalis [L.], Vespinae, Order; Hymenoptera, as a new source of insect chitosan, using chemical methods. We assessed the physical properties of the wasp's chitosan using different approaches including: preliminary color-change identification, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy [FTIR], X-ray diffraction and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy [1H-NMR]. The results showed that it gave a
higher purity, solubility and Degree of Deacetylation [DD] compared to crustacean chitosan. Also, it is soluble in a very low concentration of acetic acid from 0.25% to 0.5% while that of Crustacea was soluble in more than 1% acetic acid, so the oriental hornet could be a novel alternative source of higher pure and more soluble chitosan