Isolation of chitin from the shell of the cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis L.

Abstract

• 1.

  1. A method is described for isolating flat pieces of transparent, unhydrolysed, protein-free chitin from the shell of the cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis L.

• 2.

  2. Chitin from the dorsal cover and the septa regions of the shell were found to be identical in physical and chemical properties. X-ray studies and, for the first time, infrared spectra, confirm that Sepia chitin is of the β-type.