EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
Reagents
Commercial chitin (C9213, batch #061M0110V), obtained from shrimp shells (Pandalus borealis) from Iceland, was purchased from Sigma Aldrich (St. Louis, Missouri, USA). Deuterium oxide (99.98%), DCl (30%), and NaOH pellets were obtained from Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany). The water used was MilliQ purified (Millipore, Billerica, MA, USA). All reagents used were of analytical grade.