Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,
So I am currently working on this project where i need to dissolve 1g of chitosan in an acetic acid solution of 0.1M(2ml in 100ml of water) but when i do this the chitosan just causes clusters and does not mix. I am supposed to have a clear solution after stirring of 2hours. I change the amount of acetic acid to 4ml instead of 2ml and it mixed but is very cloudy and foggy. Then i tried with 6ml so the solution does become rather clear but still there are clusters of the chitosan in it. What can i do about the clusters??

Thank you.

Hi noorsoleman,

You might try using a stirring rod, spoon or spatula to break up the clusters in your solution. If you can reduce the size, the particles may dissolve with additional stirring.

Is your chitosan in tablet form? If so you might try grinding the tablets to a powder. Add a small amount of powder (say 0.2 g) to the acetic acid solution and stir until the powder is dissolved. Repeat additions of powder with stirring until you’ve added the 1 g of chitosan to the solution.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

The chitosan was in powder form. But i used a metal stirrer and it worked out just fine. Thank you for the reply !