Kinetics of mesophase transition of lyotropic chitosan in dichloroacetic acid

The mesophase transition and its kinetics of chitosan in the solutions of c hitosan/dichloroacetic acid (DCA) were investigated by means of DSC and dep olarized light intensity technique, respectively. The mesophase formation o f chitosan in DCA involves nucleation and growth. The isothermal kinetics o f mesophase formation from isotropic phase were described by Avrami using t he equation with an exponent n close to 1, which suggests that the formatio n of chitosan mesophase is a process of instantaneous nucleation and one-di mensional rod-like growth in the temperature range investigated. This was c onfirmed by small angle light scattering Hv patterns of the mesophase. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.