Five chitosan derivatives

i.e. O-butyryl chitosan

O-benzoyl chitosan

N-phthaloyl chitosan

N-maleoyl chitosan and O-cyanoethyl chitosan

were prepared from chitosan. All of them had better solubilitythan chitosan

and demonstrated lyotropic liquid crystalline behavior in various solvents. The critical liquidcrystalline behavior of three O-substituted chitosan derivatives was evidently different from two N-substituted analogues. Typical fingerprint textures of cholesteric phase were only observed in three O-substitued derivatives.The critical concentration(v/v%) of three O-substitued derivatives does not depend on the acidity of acidic solvents.