Background

Chitosan has extensively used polysaccharide derived from deacetilization of chitin, which is the second most abundant biopolymer. Presence of primary amine, primary hydroxyl as well as secondary hydroxyl groups make chitosan very amenable to further fictionalization and modification; consequently, chitosan has been modified in numerous ways which can be broadly classified in physical, chemical and enzymatic modification categories. Owing to extensive application of chitosan in the fields of biomedical, agriculture, water & waste treatment, food & beverages, cosmetics & toiletries and biopharmaceutics there is constant effort to develop new derivatives of chitosan.

Technology

This invention is an electrochemical modification of chitosan to synthesize a novel polymer. The polymer synthesized is a chloride form of chitosan, involving an electrochemical process to substitute one or both of hydroxyl group with chlorine. The new molecule is expected to retain its natural biocompatibility and has been found to retain hydrating properties. Substitution of hydroxyl by chlorine is expected to enhance metal chelation and binding properties of chitosan and thus is expected to perform better than the original molecule in applications including environmental applications, water filtration etc.

Advantages

Easy to scale up - Environmentally friendly by limiting the use of toxic oxidizing and reducing agent - Easy control over process parameters and hence chemistry - Can be deposited as thin films or patterned structures

Application

Synthesizing the polymer chloride