Chitin and chitosan: Chemistry, properties and applications

Chitin and chitosan are considerably versatile and promising biomaterials. The deacetylated chitin derivative, chitosan is more 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 useful derivatives that 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 applications in various industrial and biomedical fields.