Extraction and physicochemical characterization of chitin derived from the Asian hornet, Vespa velutina Lepeletier 1836 (Hym.: Vespidae)

The yellow-legged Asian hornet [Vespa velutina Lepeletier 1836 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)] is naturally distributed in Southeast Asia, India, and China; however, fifteen years ago, at least one multimated female Asian hornet arrived in France. The species has subsequently expanded its range and is now presently recognized as a pan-European threat. In the present work, the isolation and characterization of chitin from Vespa velutina (VV) is described. Moreover, a trapping procedure is presented to selectively catch the invasive insect. The physicochemical properties of chitin obtained from the VV was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), solid-state NMR (ssNMR), elemental analysis (EA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). Also, lifetime and kinetic parameters such as activation energy (E) and the prexponential factor (A) were calculated using model-free and model-fitting methods. Results obtained show the invasive VV as a large-scale and perspective source of chitin/chitosan. Based on the quality of the obtained product, chitin isolated from VV is a promising alternative source of chitin in terms of utilization and applications, in various fields such as biomedical, nanotechnological, pharmaceutical and food areas.