Chitosan is soluble in most acids. The protonation of the amino groups on the chitosan backbone inhibits the electrospinnability of pure chitosan. Recently, electrospinning of nanofibers based on chitosan has been widely researched and numerous nanofibers containing chitosan have been prepared by decreasing the number of the free amino groups of chitosan as the nanofibiers have enormous possibi...

Chitosan is widely applied in biomedical and cosmetic fields. For this reason, there is a need to modify this biopolymer to achieve new properties of chitosan-based materials. The properties of chitosan can be modified by several cross-linking methods. In this work, we used the chemical cross-linking of chitosan with tannic acid, after which cross-linked chitosan was shaped into a 3D structure ...

Polyelectrolyte-coated nanoparticles or microparticles interact with bioactive molecules (peptides, proteins or nucleic acids) and have been proposed as delivery systems for these molecules. However, the mechanism of adsorption of polyelectrolyte onto particles remains unsolved. In this study, cationic poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles were fabricated by adsorption of various conc...

Chemical modification of chitosan is increasingly studied for its potential of providing new applications of chitosan. Here, a group of novel chitosan quaternary ammonium derivatives containing pyridine or amino-pyridine were designed and successfully synthesized through chemical modification of chitosan. Pyridine and amino-pyridine were used as functional groups to improve the antifungal activ...

We report here a hepatoma-targeting multi-responsive biodegradable crosslinked nanogel, poly(6-O-vinyladipoyl-D-galactose-ss-N-vinylcaprolactam-ss-methacrylic acid) P(ODGal-VCL-MAA), using a combination of enzymatic transesterification and emulsion copolymerization for intracellular drug delivery. The nanogel exhibited redox, pH and temperature-responsive properties, which can be adjusted by va...

The term ‘biomimetic’ is commonly used to describe instances in which a chemical process imitates a biochemical reaction and has attracted considerable interest as more and more scientists study Nature’s phenomena and mechanisms. The design and synthesis of catalytic systems capable of mimicking enzyme’s activity while overcoming some of the protein’s inherent limitations is an important challe...

With cancer remaining as one of the main causes deaths worldwide, many studies are undergoing effort to look for a novel and potent anticancer drug. Nanoparticles (NPs) rising fields in research drug development. One key advantages using NPs therapy is its high flexibility modification, hence additional properties can be added order improve action. Polymer has attracted considerable attention u...

Chitin, chitosan and quaternary chitosan films were prepared, and the mechanical properties and the antibacterial activities of chitosan and quaternary chitosan films were evaluated. The tensile strength of chitin films was 30-40% lower than that of chitosan films, but the crystallinity of the former was much higher than those of the latter. A detailed analysis of the crystallinity and orientat...