Offers a comprehensive guide to the isolation, properties and applications of chitin and chitosan Chitin and Chitosan: Properties and Applications presents a comprehensive review of the isolation, properties and applications of chitin and chitosan. These promising biomaterials have the potential to be broadly applied and there is a growing market for these biopolymers in areas such as medical and pharmaceutical, packaging, agricultural, textile, cosmetics, nanoparticles and more. The authors – noted experts in the field – explore the isolation, characterization and the physical and chemical properties of chitin and chitosan. They also examine their properties such as hydrogels, immunomodulation and biotechnology, antimicrobial activity and chemical enzymatic modifications. The book offers an analysis of the myriad medical and pharmaceutical applications as well as a review of applications in other areas. In addition, the authors discuss regulations, markets and perspectives for the use of chitin and chitosan. This important book: Offers a thorough review of the isolation, properties and applications of chitin and chitosan. Contains information on the wide-ranging applications and growing market demand for chitin and chitosan Includes a discussion of current regulations and the outlook for the future Written for Researchers in academia and industry who are working in the fields of chitin and chitosan, Chitin and Chitosan: Properties and Applications offers a review of these promising biomaterials that have great potential due to their material properties and biological functionalities.

The Handbook of Chitin and Chitosan: Preparation and Properties, Volume One, is a must-read for polymer chemists, physicists and engineers interested in the development of ecofriendly micro and nanostructured functional materials based on chitin and their various applications. The book addresses the entirety of working with these materials, from their isolation, preparation and properties, through composites, nanomaterials, manufacturing and characterizations. This is the first of three volumes in a series that contains the latest on the major applications of chitin and chitosan based IPN's, blends, gels, composites and nanocomposites, including environmental remediation, biomedical applications and smart material applications. - Provides a comprehensive overview of Chitin and Chitosan materials, from their synthesis and nanomaterials, to their manufacture and applications - Volume One focuses on the synthesis and properties of Chitosan and/or Chitin - Includes contributions from leading researchers across the globe and from industry, academia, government and private research institutions - Highlights current status and future opportunities

The second edition of Chitin underscores the important factors for standardizing chitin processing and characterization. It captures the essential interplay between chitin's assets and limitations as a biomaterial, placing the past promises of chitin in perspective, addressing its present realities and offering insight into what is required to realize chitin's destiny (including its derivative, chitosan) as a biomaterial of the twenty-first century. This book is an ideal guide for both industrialists and researchers with a vested interest in commercializing chitin. - An update on the research since 2001 as it pertains to the biomaterials and biomedical applications of chitin and chitosan - An expanded discussion on positioning chitin and chitosan for biomedical applications - Presents regulatory aspects of chitin and chitosan

Chitin presents fundamental information on chitin. The enzymatic processes controlling the synthesis and the breakdown of chitin are discussed, along with its role in the fundamental mechanism of growth, differentiation, nutrition, and movement of a large number of species. This text consists of seven chapters and begins with an overview of chitin research and the rapidly increasing interest in chitin chemistry and applications. The discussion then moves to the enzymatic synthesis of chitin and chitosan and inhibition of chitin biosynthesis, along with the physicochemical characteristics of chitin and chitosan. The chapters that follow focus on chitin chemistry, chitinases and related enzymes, applications of chitin in chromatography, and industrial production and applications of chitin. The final chapter is devoted to medical applications of chitin and its oligomers, from being artificial kidney membranes and antigens against parasites to blood anticoagulants, biodegradable pharmaceutical carriers, wound healing accelerators, and microbiological media. This book will be of interest to biochemists, physicists, industrialists, botanists, entomologists, physiologists, and other scientists in a variety of disciplines, as well as graduate students wishing to undertake research about chitin.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of chitin biology and chitin metabolism related enzymes. Chitin, the second most abundant biopolymer in nature after to cellulose, is a linear biopolymer composed of β-1,4-linked N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), and an essential component in the exoskeletons of insects, mites, ticks and crustaceans, the egg shells of parasitic nematodes, and fungal cell walls. Although some chitin-containing organisms are a threat to human health, food safety and agricultural production, non-chitin containing organisms like humans, mammals and plants have an innate immune response to these hazardous organisms. The book provides researchers and students with information on the recent research advances concerning the biology of chitin-containing organisms as well as cross-talks between chitin-containing and non-chitin-containing organisms. Highlighting chitin remodeling enzymes and inhibitors, it also offers drug developers essential insights into designing specific molecules for the control of hazardous chitin-containing organisms.

Exegi monumentum ael'e perennius. The monument I have built will last longer than bronze. Horace My previous book, "Chitin", (1977) was listed by the publisher, as a "key research book", among the most requested books by libraries. It received favorable comments from. each of the journals which reviewed it, Science, 198, 28 Oct. 1977, Physiological Entomology, 2(4), Dec. 1977, The Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology Journal, April 1978, The Quarterly Review of Biology, 53:361, 1978, Oceanographic Abstracts, 15:182, 1979, Annales de Zoologie-Ecologie Animale, 11:127, 1979, and Enzyme & Microbial Technology, 2, 1980. The variety of these journals testifies to the interdisci plinary character of chitin studies. "Chitin" has really been a landmark, to use the definition given by Science, because it stimulated interest in the less known polysaccharides and in modified chitins, besides chitin itself, to the point that three International Conferences on Chitin / Chitosan were convened (Boston, U. S. A. 1977, Sapporo, Japan 1982 and Senigallia, Italy 1985). In convening the 3rd International Conference on Chitin / Chitosan (1-4 April 1985), one of the main objectives was the preparation of the present book. While the proceedings of the previous two Conferences were very valuable, they did not appear in any book catalogs and this severely Ii mi ted their distribution.

The Handbook of Chitin and Chitosan: Chitin and Chitosan Based Polymer Materials for Various Applications, Volume Three, is a must-read for polymer chemists, physicists and engineers interested in the development of ecofriendly micro and nanostructured functional materials based on chitin and their various applications. The book addresses their isolation, preparation and properties and their composites, nanomaterials, manufacturing and characterizations. This is the third of three volumes in a series that contains the latest on the major applications of chitin and chitosan based IPN's, blends, gels, composites and nanocomposites, including environmental remediation, biomedical applications and smart material applications. - Provides a comprehensive overview of Chitin and Chitosan materials, from their synthesis and nanomaterials, to their manufacture and applications - Volume Three focuses on the applications of Chitin and Chitosan - Includes contributions from leading researchers across the globe and from industry, academia, government and private research institutions - Highlights current status and future opportunities

Biopolymers from Renewable Resources is a compilation of information on the diverse and useful polymers derived from agricultural, animal, and microbial sources. The volume provides insight into the diversity of polymers obtained directly from, or derived from, renewable resources. The beneficial aspects of utilizing polymers from renewable resources, when considering synthesis, pro cessing, disposal, biodegradability, and overall material life-cycle issues, suggests that this will continue to be an important and growing area of interest. The individual chapters provide information on synthesis, processing and properties for a variety of polyamides, polysaccharides, polyesters and polyphenols. The reader will have a single volume that provides a resource from which to gain initial insights into this diverse field and from which key references and contacts can be drawn. Aspects of biology, biotechnology, polymer synthesis, polymer processing and engineering, mechanical properties and biophysics are addressed to varying degrees for the specific biopolymers. The volume can be used as a reference book or as a teaching text. At the more practical level, the range of important materials derived from renewable resources is both extensive and impressive. Gels, additives, fibers, coatings and films are generated from a variety of the biopolymers reviewed in this volume. These polymers are used in commodity materials in our everyday lives, as well as in specialty products.

A natural long-chain polymer, chitin is the main component of the cell walls of fungi, the exoskeletons of arthropods (including crustaceans and insects), the radulas of mollusks, and the beaks and internal shells of cephalopods. However, marine crustacean shells are the primary sources of the chitin derivative chitosan. Chitin and chitosan are useful for various biological and biomedical applications, although they have been limited by poor solubility in the past. Current research focuses on increasing their solubility and bioactivity through molecular modifications. The resulting derivatives are receiving much attention for interesting properties, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and nontoxicity, that make them suitable for use in the biomedical field. Chitin and Chitosan Derivatives: Advances in Drug Discovery and Developments presents current research trends in the synthesis of chitin and chitosan derivatives, their biological activities, and their biomedical applications. Part I discusses basic information about the synthesis and characterization of a variety of derivatives, including the preparation of chitin nanofibers. Part II covers chitin and chitosan modifications as the basis for biological applications. It describes antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiviral, anticoagulant, and antimicrobial activities. Part III addresses chemically modified and composite materials of chitin and chitosan derivatives for biomedical applications, such as tissue engineering, nanomedicine, drug delivery, and wound dressing. A must-have reference for novices and experts in biotechnology, natural products, materials science, nutraceuticals, and biomedical engineering, this book presents a wide range of biological and biomedical applications of chitin and chitosan derivatives for drug discovery and development.