Lexic.us

Definition of Chitin

1. Noun. A tough semitransparent horny substance; the principal component of the exoskeletons of arthropods and the cell walls of certain fungi.

Definition of Chitin

1. n. A white amorphous horny substance forming the harder part of the outer integument of insects, crustacea, and various other invertebrates; entomolin.

Definition of Chitin

1. Noun. (carbohydrates) A complex polysaccharide, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods and in the cell walls of fungi; thought to be responsible for some forms of asthma in humans. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Chitin

1. the main component of insect shells [n -S]

Medical Definition of Chitin

1. A cross linked polymer of N acetyl D glucosamine that is the major structural component of arthropod exoskeletons and fungal cell walls. Widely distributed in plants and fungi. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Chitin

Literary usage of Chitin

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Dictionary of Chemistry and the Allied Branches of Other Sciences by Henry Watts (1870)
"Frémy prepares chitin by treating the tegumentary skeleton of a erus- taceous animal with cold dilute hydrochloric acid, to remove calcareous salts ..."

2. An Introduction to Entomology by John Henry Comstock (1920)
"chitin.—The well-known firmness of the larger part of the cuticula of adult insects is due to the presence in it of a substance which is termed chitin. ..."

3. Allen's Commercial Organic Analysis: A Treatise on the Properties, Modes of by Alfred Henry Allen (1913)
"chitin may be obtained by a similar process from the shell of the crab or ... chitin is a colourless, amorphous substance, which, when prepared in the ..."

4. Practical organic and bio-chemistry by Robert Henry Aders Plimmer (1920)
"chitin AND CHONDROITIN. These polysaccharides which contain glucosamine as ... chitin. chitin is composed of four glucosamine units or of three glucosamine ..."

5. Commercial Organic Analysis: A Treatise on the Properties, Proximate by Alfred Henry Allen, Henry Leffmann (1898)
"Ledderhose finds that chitin undergoes hydrolysis when heated with acids, with formation ... 227), when chitin is dissolved in concentrated sulphuric acid, ..."

6. Elements of Chemistry: Theoretical and Practical by William Allen Miller (1862)
"... mentioned as chitin in the foregoing Table, constile true skeleton of ... with water, and with ether. chitin is a white substance, which retains the ..."

7. Commercial Organic Analysis by Alfred Henry Allen, Wm. A. Davis (1913)
"chitin may be obtained by a similar process from the shell of the crab or ... chitin is a colourless, amorphous substance, which, when prepared in the ..."

8. A Text-book of Chemical Physiology and Pathology by William Dobinson Halliburton (1891)
"chitin.—This substance has a very wide distribution among the it; vertebrate groups. ... i has not been fully proved.3 chitin is frequently impregnated with ..."

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