“…[5][6][7][8][9] Although the formation of micelles depends on entropy, the structure of the micellar regions of chitosan solutions depends on the relative amounts of intra-and intermolecular chemical/electronic interactions as well as key process variables, such as polymer concentration. 3,5,6,15,16 These chemical interactions include hydrogen bonding which occurs between the hydroxyl functional groups of the polymer backbone within a particular polymer strand, between neighboring strands, and with water molecules in the solution. Hydrogen bonding and electrostatic repulsions of the polyelectrolytic backbone, along with van der Waals dispersion forces that are present between all molecules, provides the attractive and repulsive interactions that are responsible for the differences in amounts of intra-and intermolecular aggregation of the hydrophobic side chains along the chitosan backbone.…”