Fucoidan refers to a type of polysaccharide which contains substantial percentages of l-fucose and sulfate ester groups, mainly derived from brown seaweed. For the past decade fucoidan has been extensively studied due to its numerous interesting biological activities. Recently the search for new drugs has raised interest in fucoidans. In the past few years, several fucoidans’ structures have been solved, and many aspects of their biological activity have been elucidated. This review summarizes the research progress on the structure and bioactivity of fucoidan and the relationships between structure and bioactivity.

Chitosan has received much attention as a functional biopolymer for diverse applications, especially in pharmaceutics and medicine. Our recent efforts focused on the chemical and biological modification of chitosan in order to increase its solubility in aqueous solutions and absorbability in the in vivo system, thus for a better use of chitosan. This review summarizes chitosan modification and its pharmaceutical/biomedical applications based on our achievements as well as the domestic and overseas developments: (1) enzymatic preparation of low molecular weight chitosans/chitooligosaccharides with their hypocholesterolemic and immuno-modulating effects; (2) the effects of chitin, chitosan and their derivatives on blood hemostasis; and (3) synthesis of a non-toxic ion ligand—D-Glucosaminic acid from Oxidation of D-Glucosamine for cancer and diabetes therapy.

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In this paper, simple small molecules, glyoxal and acrylonitrile, are chosen as starting materials to prepare an amidoxime-functionalized hydrothermal carbon-based solid phase extractant (HTC-AO) via a one-step hydrothermal process following a simple oximation. The resulting HTC-AO exhibits the anticipated properties, i.e., low porosity (0.01 cm 3 g À1 ) and intraparticle diffusion coefficient (k int ¼ 0.042 mmol g À1 min À0.5 ), high content of amidoxime groups (1.66 mmol g À1 ) and minimal undesired functional groups (typically carboxylic group: 0.07 mmol g À1 ; phenolic group: 0.38 mmol g À1 ; lactonic group: 0.01 mmol g À1 ). Moreover, the results of irradiation experiments under g-ray dosages between 1 and 100 kGy indicate that HTC-AO has good radiation stability. The sorption behavior of U(VI) onto HTC-AO is investigated in detail using batch sorption experiments. A saturation U(VI) sorption capacity over that of all the uranium sorbents reported previously is found to be 1021.6 mg g À1 at pH 4.5 in single uranium solution, and a so far unreported highest uranium selectivity of 81.6% with a sorption capacity of 268.9 mg g À1 is observed at pH 2.5 in multi-ion solution. The significant outcomes in this work confirms that the "simple small molecule carbon source" strategy is practical and efficient, and may have the potential for the preparation of other types of functional materials such as highly specific catalysts, drug targeting carriers and others.

(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) was loaded in heat treated β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg) for the preservation of antioxidant activity. The effects of pH (2.5-7.0), the heating temperature of β-Lg (30-85 °C), the molar ratio of β-Lg to EGCG (1:2-1:32), and the β-Lg concentration (1-10 mg/mL) on the properties of β-Lg-EGCG complexes were studied. All four factors significantly influenced the particle size, the ζ-potential, and the entrapment efficiency of EGCG and EGCG loading in β-Lg particles. A stable and clear solution system could be obtained at pH 6.4-7.0. The highest protection of EGCG antioxidant activity was obtained with β-Lg heated at 85 °C and the molar ratio of 1:2 (β-Lg: EGCG). β-Lg-EGCG complexes were found to have the same secondary structure as native β-Lg.