A Review on Chitin and Chitosan Polymers: Structure, Chemistry, Solubility, Derivatives, and Applications

Abstract Chitin and chitosan are considerably versatile and promising biomaterials. The deacetylated chitin derivative chitosan is a useful and interesting bioactive polymer. Despite its biodegradability, it has many reactive amino side groups, which offer possibilities of chemical modifications, formation of a large variety of beneficial derivatives, which are commercially available or can be made available via graft reactions and ionic interactions. This study looks at the contemporary research in chitin and chitosan towards structure, properties, and applications in various industrial and biomedical fields.