Functional Characterization of Chitin and Chitosan
Chitin and its deacetylated derivative chitosan are natural polymers composed of randomly distributed β-(1-4)- linked D-glucosamine (deacetylated unit) and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (acetylated unit). Chitin is insoluble in aqueous media while chitosan is soluble in acidic conditions
due to the free protonable amino groups present in the D-glucosamine units. Due to their natural origin, both chitin and chitosan can not be defined as a unique chemical structure but as a family of polymers which present a high variability in their chemical and physical properties. This variability
is related not only to the origin of the samples but also to their method of preparation. Chitin and chitosan are used in fields as different as food, biomedicine and agriculture, among others. The success of chitin and chitosan in each of these specific applications is directly related to
deep research into their physicochemical properties. In recent years, several reviews covering different aspects of the applications of chitin and chitosan have been published. However, these reviews have not taken into account the key role of the physicochemical properties of chitin and chitosan
in their possible applications. The aim of this review is to highlight the relationship between the physicochemical properties of the polymers and their behaviour. A functional characterization of chitin and chitosan regarding some biological properties and some specific applications (drug
delivery, tissue engineering, functional food, food preservative, biocatalyst immobilization, wastewater treatment, molecular imprinting and metal nanocomposites) is presented. The molecular mechanism of the biological properties such as biocompatibility, mucoadhesion, permeation enhancing
effect, anticholesterolemic, and antimicrobial has been updated.
Keywords: Chitin/kwd> chitosan; crystallinity; deacetylation degree; functional characterization; molecular weight
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 May 2009
- Current Chemical Biology aims to publish full-length and mini reviews on exciting new developments at the chemistry-biology interface, covering topics relating to Chemical Synthesis, Science at Chemistry-Biology Interface and Chemical Mechanisms of Biological Systems.
Current Chemical Biology covers the following areas: Chemical Synthesis (Syntheses of biologically important macromolecules including proteins, polypeptides, oligonucleotides, oligosaccharides etc.; Asymmetric synthesis; Combinatorial synthesis; Diversity-oriented synthesis; Template-directed synthesis; Biomimetic synthesis; Solid phase biomolecular synthesis; Synthesis of small biomolecules: amino acids, peptides, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleosides; and Natural product synthesis).
Science at Chemistry-Biology Interface (Chemical informatics; Macromolecular catalysts and receptors; Enzymatic synthesis; Biosynthetic engineering; Combinatorial biosynthesis; Plant cell based chemistry; Bacterial and viral cell based chemistry; Chemistry of cellular processes in plants/animals; Receptor chemistry; Cell signaling chemistry; Drug design through understanding of disease processes; Synthetic biology; New high throughput screening techniques; Small molecular array fabrication; Chemical genomics; Chemical and biological approaches to carbohydrates proteins and nucleic acids design; Chemical and biological regulation of biosynthetic pathways; and Unnatural biomolecular analogs). - Editorial Board
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