Chitosan, a cationic polymer obtained by deacetylation of chitin, is the second most common natural polysaccharide in biomass after cellulose. Due to its interesting properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and antimicrobial capacity, chitosan has been used to form chitosan-based hydrogels that have many advantages and are used in many fields.
Preparation
The preparation methods of chitosan-based hydrogels mainly include physical crosslinking and chemical crosslinking.
The main advantage of physical crosslinking to prepare chitosan-based hydrogels is that no crosslinking agents are used, which can sometimes be toxic and can decrease biocompatibility. Common methods of preparing chitosan-based hydrogels with physical crosslinking include freeze-thawing and electrostatic interactions.
Chemical crosslinking can provide chitosan-based hydrogels with good mechanical strength and preserve their properties for a long time. In addition, it allows the formation of chitosan-based hydrogels with uniform properties. Generally, chemical crosslinking can be divided into free-radical polymerization, condensation reactions, and addition reactions.
Applications
Peptide-based hydrogels have widely applications in biomedicine as therapeutic agents, or for drug delivery, biosensors, cell culture, biomineralization, and tissue engineering. Here is a brief introduction to a few examples.
In drug delivery systems, the active substance is loaded onto a carrier or device, which then provides controlled and sustained drug release at a specific site and specific rate, avoiding overdosage and reducing side effects. Chitosan-based hydrogels are commonly used in drug delivery systems since they are compatible with human physiology. For example, they can be used for the delivery of antibiotics, anesthetics, hypotensive drugs, or anticancer drugs.
The aim of tissue engineering is to promote the biological and functional regeneration of damaged or unhealthy tissues. In the last decade, many reports have focused on the application and principle of chitosan-based hydrogels in tissue engineering. The function of chitosan-based hydrogels in tissue engineering can be explained by their biodegradable, biocompatible, nontoxic, antimicrobial, biologically adhesive, biological activity and hemostatic effects.
Chitosan-based hydrogels have gained special attention in the field of wastewater treatment due to their excellent properties like high adsorption capacity, fast kinetics, and reusability. Studies have shown that they are effective in removing aqueous pollutants such as dyes, heavy metal ions, phosphates, nitrates, pharmaceuticals, etc.
Our Products
Alfa Chemistry is a leading global supplier of hydrogels. Our experienced scientists focus on the production and performance improvement of chitosan-based hydrogels. Our products include but are not limited to the following. Please contact us to customize the chitosan-based hydrogels you need, and we will provide you with high quality products according to your detailed requirements.
- Chitosan hydrogel
- Nano silver/chitosan composite hydrogel
- Graphene oxide (GO)/chitosan composite hydrogel
- Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/chitosan/Graphene oxide (GO) composite hydrogel spheres
- Sodium alginate (SA)/sulfhydrylated fructose-chitosan composite hydrogel
- Carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) hydrogel
- Chitosan temperature-sensitive hydrogel
- Silkworm pupa chitosan composite hydrogel
- Chitosan/aramid nanofiber composite hydrogel
References
- Xu, B.; et al. Small molecule hydrogels based on a class of antiinflammatory agents. Chemical Communications. 2004, 208-209.
- Pochan, D.J.; et al. Thermally reversible hydrogels via intramolecular folding and consequent self-assembly of a de novo designed peptide. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2003, 39(125): 11802-11803.
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