The low solubility in common solvent and high viscosity resulting from its high molecular weight (MW) with fiber-like structure\r\nprevents a more widespread use of chitosan. This paper presents a performance comparison of nonspecific, commercially available\r\nenzymes, ??- and ??-amylases, for the hydrolysis of chitosan to lower its MW. The results showed that both enzymes demonstrate\r\nthe ability to be used as catalysts in chitosan hydrolysis with ??-amylase having better performance than ??-amylase. The chitosan\r\nhydrolysis was influenced by not only the enzyme and the chitosan characteristics but also the hydrolysis condition.The optimum\r\npH solution was 4 for ??-amylase and 5 for ??-amylase.The hydrolysis temperature was found to be optimal at 90 and 50�°C for ??-\r\nand ??-amylases, respectively.
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