Chitin, Chitosan, and Nanochitin: Extraction, Synthesis, and Applications

Abstract

Crustacean shells are a sustainable source of chitin. Extracting chitin from crustacean shells is ongoing research, much of which is devoted to devising a sustainable process that yields high-quality chitin with minimal waste. Chemical and biological methods have been used extensively for this purpose; more recently, methods based on ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents have been explored. Extracted chitin can be converted into chitosan or nanochitin. Once chitin is obtained and modified into the desired form, it can be used in a wide array of applications, including as a filler material, in adsorbents, and as a component in biomaterials, among others. Describing the extraction of chitin, synthesis of chitosan and nanochitin, and applications of these materials is the aim of this review. The first section of this review summarizes and compares common chitin extraction methods, highlighting the benefits and shortcomings of each, followed by descriptions of methods to convert chitin into chitosan and nanochitin. The second section of this review discusses some of the wide range of applications of chitin and its derivatives.

Nanoceramics-reinforced chitosan scaffolds in bone tissue engineering

“…The deacetylation method and the degree of deacetylation utilised for CS synthesis play a critical role in determining the polymer chain's composition, size, properties, and application. 52 The degree of deacetylation represents the proportion of d -glucosamine and N -acetyl- d -glucosamine 53 and generally falls between 50–95%. It dramatically impacts the solubility, degradation, crystallinity, surface tension, and molecular weight of CS.…”

The role of nanochitin in biologically-active matrices for tissue engineering-where do we stand?

“…A huge number of reviews give detailed information on nanochitin isolation, characterization and modifications strategies, 27,[46][47][48][49][50][51] as well as description of fabrication methods of biomaterials or composites derived from these nanoforms. 5,8,12,23,45,[52][53][54][55][56][57] There has been a considerable increase in the number of publications in the last two decades about the use of nanochitin in biomaterials for biomedical applications, although is still a fairly new field of application.…”

Biodegradable trimethyl chitosan nanofiber mats as bioabsorbable dressings for wound closure and healing

“…Literature data presents a large diversity of chitosan-based nano bers, most of them embedding different llers meant to improve speci c properties for targeted applications, i.e. tissue engineering, wound healing, food packaging, drug delivery, air and water puri cation lters [10][11][12][13]. It was also highlighted that the immunomodulatory effect of chitosan and the good similarity of the chitosan nano bers mats with the extracellular matrix architecture of the skin favors the cell adhesion and proliferation, useful for the development of implantable materials for regenerative medicine [14,15].…”