Chitosan is one of the polymers that is being developed in the form of
nanoparticles. Chitosan is obtained from the alkaline deacetylation of chitin,
which can be found in the shells of blood clams. Meanwhile, chitosan
nanoparticles can be prepared based on the ionic gelation of chitosan with
tripolyphosphate anions. This paper present the study of chitosan that obtained
from shells of blood calms. It also studied the effect of chitosan:NaTPP ratio and
stirring speed to the particle size of chitosan nanoparticles. In order to determine
the degree of deacetylation (DD), an analysis based on FTIR spectroscopy was
performed. The characterization of chitosan nanoparticles was evaluated by an
analysis based on UV-Vis spectroscopy and Particle Size Analyzer (PSA). The
degree of deacetylation (DD) obtained during the formation of nanochitosan was
99%. The result of the UV-Vis test for nanochitosan particle size increased from
1:1 ratio variation with a rotation speed of 500 rpm to 5:1 at a rotation speed of
900 rpm. The size of the nanoparticles obtained in the 5:1 sample with a strring
speed of 700 rpm was 200,8 nm. While the size of the nanoparticles obtained in
the 5:1 sample with a stirring speed of 900 rpm is 332,4 nm by testing using a
Particle Size Analyzer (PSA).