Surface properties of chitin-glucan nanopapers from Agaricus bisporus

Nawawi WMFW 1 , Lee KY 2 , Kontturi E 3 , Bismarck A 4 , Mautner A 5

Affiliations 

  • 1 Institute of Materials Chemistry & Research, Polymer & Composite Engineering (PaCE) Group, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, Währingerstr. 42, A-1090 Vienna, Austria; Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ London, United Kingdom; Department of Biotechnology Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, P.O. Box 10, 50728 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
  • 3 Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems (BIO2), School of Chemical Engineering, Aalto University, PO Box 16300, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland
  • 4 Institute of Materials Chemistry & Research, Polymer & Composite Engineering (PaCE) Group, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, Währingerstr. 42, A-1090 Vienna, Austria; Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ London, United Kingdom; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
  • 5 Institute of Materials Chemistry & Research, Polymer & Composite Engineering (PaCE) Group, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, Währingerstr. 42, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: andreas.mautner@univie.ac.at
Int J Biol Macromol, 2020 Apr 01;148:677-687.
PMID: 31954796 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.01.141

Abstract

The structural component of fungal cell walls comprises of chitin covalently bonded to glucan; this constitutes a native composite material (chitin-glucan, CG) combining the strength of chitin and the toughness of glucan. It has a native nano-fibrous structure in contrast to nanocellulose, for which further nanofibrillation is required. Nanopapers can be manufactured from fungal chitin nanofibrils (FChNFs). FChNF nanopapers are potentially applicable in packaging films, composites, or membranes for water treatment due to their distinct surface properties inherited from the composition of chitin and glucan. Here, chitin-glucan nanofibrils were extracted from common mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) cell walls utilizing a mild isolation procedure to preserve the native quality of the chitin-glucan complex. These extracts were readily disintegrated into nanofibre dimensions by a low-energy mechanical blending, thus making the extract dispersion directly suitable for nanopaper preparation using a simple vacuum filtration process. Chitin-glucan nanopaper morphology, mechanical, chemical, and surface properties were studied and compared to chitin nanopapers of crustacean (Cancer pagurus) origin. It was found that fungal extract nanopapers had distinct physico-chemical surface properties, being more hydrophobic than crustacean chitin.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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