Chitosan, modified chitosan and its applications

Chitin and its deacetylated derivative chitosan are natural polymers which are composed of indiscriminately distributed a-(1-4)-linked D-glucosamine (deacetylated unit) and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (acetylated unit). Chitin and chitosan are used in fields of biomedicine, food and agriculture. The success of chitosan in each of these specific applications is directly associated to their physicochemical properties. The aim of this book is to highlight the relationship between the physicochemical properties of the polymers and their behaviour. A purposeful characterization of chitosan concerning some biological properties and a number of specific applications (drug delivery, tissue engineering, wound dressings, wastewater treatment, and agricultural use and chitosan nanoparticles) is given. The molecular mechanism of the biological properties like biocompatibility, biodegradibility, hydrogel, antiinflammatory, and antimicrobial has been updated. These properties can be further enhanced by modifications of chitosan on its primary amino group. The modifications can be done by graft modification, chemical modifications and chitosan blend system.