Optical properties and biointerface interactions of chitin

The investigation aimed to elucidate the solvent influence on the physicochemical properties of a biologically active compound, namely chitin. The higher reactivity and stability of chitin in N,N -dimethylacetamide revealed that this is a good solvent for processing optical films with biological activity. In visible range, chitin displayed a normal dispersion of refractive index, which is 1.592 at 589 nm. The use of Wemple and Didomenico model enabled the determination of several optical constants, such as single-oscillator energy for electronic transitions and the dispersion energy and refractive index at infinite wavelength. From the obtained data concerning the surface wettability, the interactions at the biointerface of chitin with blood, fibroblasts, and microorganisms were investigated. The spreading of these biological media on chitin showed that in most cases, the cohesive interaction overcomes the adhesion ones. This is most suitable for fabrication of biomedical instrumentation with antimicrobial properties.