Investigation on dung beetle's (Heliocopris Hope, 1838) chitosan valorisation for hydrogel 3D printing

Xiaomin Yu Godeau (1) , Freddy Jocelyne Andrianandrasana (1) , Olga Volkova (2) , Caroline R Szczepanski (3) , Arnaud Zenerino (1) , Olivier Montreuil (4) , René-Paul Godeau (2) , Pavel Kuzhir (2) , Guilhem Godeau (2)

1 UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur
2 INPHYNI - Institut de Physique de Nice
3 Michigan State University [East Lansing]
4 MECADEV - Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution

Biopolymers and their derivatives are materials with increasing interest for industry and especially for sustainable engineering development. Among such kind of materials, carbohydrate polymer like highly deacetylated chitin (chitosan) is widely used for a wide range of applications, including material and biomedical developments. The majority of industrially produced chitosan is based on chitin extracted from crustacean exoskeleton. However, with increase of interest on this material, chitosan's production will rapidly become insufficient and other species should be investigated as new sources of chitosan. In the present work, we focus on the preparation of chitosan from giant dung beetles (Genus Heliocopris, Hope, 1838). This genus was chosen to show the possibility to take animals that develop and leave near dejection and valuate them for material applications. This work includes all the chitosan extraction procedures, chitosan characterisation IR, SEM, NMR, ash content, and deacetylation degree. Finally, the prepared carbohydrate polymer is used to form hydrogel.

Mots clés: Dung beetle; biopolymer extraction; chitin; chitosan; hydrogel formation

Domaines: Polymères

Xiaomin Yu Godeau, Freddy Jocelyne Andrianandrasana, Olga Volkova, Caroline R Szczepanski, Arnaud Zenerino, et al.. Investigation on dung beetle's (Heliocopris Hope, 1838) chitosan valorisation for hydrogel 3D printing. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 2022, 199, pp.172-180. ⟨10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.12.077⟩. ⟨hal-03517539⟩