Biopolymers and their derivatives are being actively investigated as substitutes for petroleum-based polymers. This has generated an intense interest in investigating new solvents, in particular for cellulose, chitin/chitosan, and starch. This overview focuses on recent advances in the dissolution and derivatization of these polysaccharides in solutions of strong electrolytes in dipolar aprotic...

From long time, scientists are looking for natural biomolecules in order to discover new pharmaceutical agents. Therefore polysaccharides which are natural molecules from several biotopes (microbial, plant, algae, fungi, animals, and insects) constitute a very large potential of application for medical treatment. Among them, chitosan a deacetylated form of chitin (one of the most abundant polys...

Chitin ranks next to cellulose as the most important bio-polysaccharide which can primarily be extracted from crustacean shells. However, the emergence of new areas of the application of chitin and its derivatives are on the increase and there is growing demand for new chitin sources. In this study, therefore, an attempt was made to extract chitin from the house cricket (Brachytrupes portentosu...

Chitosan and its derivatives are polymers with excellent properties to be used in regenerative medicine because they guarantee efficiency in the healing process. This polymer has a great potential for the development of a new generation of biomaterials that can be used in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. The nanocrystalline chitosan (nCh) is a modified form of chitosan prepared by ...

Age-related, diet-related and protein conformational diseases, such as atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, cancer, hypercholesterolemia, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases are common in the elderly population. The potential of chitosan, chitooligosaccharides and their derivatives in prevention and treatment of age-related dysfunctions is reviewed and discussed in this paper. The infl...

Chitosan obtained by alkaline deacetylation of chitin is a non-toxic, biocompatible, and biodegradable natural polymer. Chitosan-based hydrogel polymeric beads have been extensively studied as microor nano-particulate carriers in the pharmaceutical and medical fields, where they have shown promise for drug delivery as a result of their controlled and sustained release properties, as well as bio...

In previous studies, it was established that chitosan and its quaternized derivatives are potent enhancers of hydrophilic compounds absorption across intestinal epithelia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the application of a new quaternized chitosan, triethyl chitosan (TEC), in pharmaceutical approaches. TEC was synthesized by a one step process via a 2(2) factorial design to optimize the...