Today, we are going to look at the quality of chitosan.
Previously, we talked about chitin/chitosan, where chitin has -NH(COCH3) at its terminal and chitosan -NH2.
The terminal of chitin is called an N-acetyl group, whereas the terminal of chitosan is called an amino group. Chitosan is chemically processed from chitin, meaning that the terminal of chitin is changed from an N-acetyl group to an amino group. The conversion rate into an amino group in usual chemical processing is around 70 - 90%.
The conversion rate from an N-acetyl group to an amino group is termed the “deacetylation rate,” usually abbreviated as DAC. For instance, DAC70 stands for 70% deacetylation rate. DAC70 chitosan, for example, contains 70% chitosan and 30% chitin in its chemical structural formula. The quality of chitosan is higher if DAC is close to 100.
So, is it possible to have such a thing as DAC100 chitosan? The answer is no. To my knowledge, the maximum DAC is around 98 to 99. DAC 80-90 is sufficient for raw materials of health food. It is more beneficial to consume sufficient amounts of DAC 80-90 chitosan than small amounts of DAC 98 chitosan.
We use DAC 90 chitosan for our products “Dream” and “Full of Dream.”