Study of interactions of pigments with biopolymer chitosan

This master's thesis was focused on the study of interaction of some organic azo dyes (model diffusion probes) with cationic biopolymer chitosan. This interactions were realized via diffusion processes in hydrogel media based on thermoreversible agarose. The main aim was study of influence of pH of solution on the diffusion process. Interactions of used dyes are based on electrostatic character. The aminogroup of chitosan interacts with the functional group of chosen dyes (anionic sulfonic group) and thus affects the process of diffusion. The model diffusion compounds were chosen organic anionic dyes Chicago sky blue 6B (C.I. 24 410), Sirius red (C.I. 35 780) and Reactive blue 49 (C.I. 621 526). The important content of this diffusion method is a monitoring of the time progression of diffusion profile by UV-VIS spectrophotometry. The presented work follows the bachelor thesis and shows comprehensive view of the reactivity of chitosan and its behavior in different systems. Unsteady diffusion in cuvettes appears to be a universal method for the study of reactivity of biopolymers and for the study of transport processes in hydrogel media. The diffusion method is universal, easy and cheap