Identification and analysis of biopolymers from crustaceans decapod of the romanian Black Sea waters

The using of marine resources for the industrial, biomedical applications and human consumption has
got a quickly growth in previous decade in the world. The Romanian Black Sea environment,
containing lots of organisms, which have considerable ecological and biological properties, is one of
the most unstudied biological resources. In this paper, we have identified three species of crustaceans
on Romanian sea waters of the Black Sea, as possible sources of chitin and chitosan. Because these
species constitute a rich source of value-added products, as chitin, protein pigments and flavour
componds, the full exploitation of this easily accesible resource has attracted much interest. Chitin and
chitosan, the naturally renewable polymers have excellent properties such as biodegradability,
biocompatibility, non-toxicity and adsorption. The extraction and characterization of these
biopolymers have been studied by optical microscopy and FTIR/ATR spectroscopy. Results of the
preliminary studies revealed from: FTIR/ATR „fingerprint spectra”, intensities and stretching,
characteristic functional groups of bands, the presence of chitin and chitosan in the samples. Spectra
samples were compared with those of chitin and chitosan standards. By optical microscopy and
FTIR/ATR coupled analytical methods the results have been checked and also, indicated
morphological differences between the chitin and chitosan standards. The material (crustacean shell)
was dried, milled and sieved (dimensions of the particles less than 150 μm) and than digested in a
mixture of peroxide, nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. Metallic elements, such as As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe,
Mo, Ni, Pb, Se, Zn, V, Al, Ca, Mg, Na, K, were analyzed using inductively coupled plama optical
emission spectrometry. High contents of Ca, Mg, Na and K were recorded.