Advanced chitosan-based materials: synthesis, properties, processing and applications

随着人们寻求不依赖石油资源的聚合物，以及与废物管理相关的环境问题成为一个问题，开发新型生态材料的必要性变得至关重要。海洋副产品，如螃蟹和虾壳，在加工路线上被丢弃。这些壳由甲壳素、蛋白质和碳酸钙作为主要结构成分组成，甲壳素是仅次于纤维素的最丰富的有机物质。甲壳素及其主要工业衍生物壳聚糖构成了目前可利用的海洋原料的主要生物聚合物，但它们在增值产品方面的潜力尚未得到充分开发。由于缺乏对它们在不同物理状态和过程中行为的基本机制的理解，它们的使用仍然对科学界和行业具有挑战性。这主要是由于天然聚合物在链大小和化学组成上的大的多分散性，而不是它们的合成聚合物。

The need to exploit novel ecological materials becomes essential as polymers not relying on petroleum resources are sought for, and as environmental concerns related to waste management becomes an issue. Marine by-products such as crab and shrimp shells are abandoned along the processing route. These shells consist of chitin, proteins and calcium carbonate as the main structural components, chitin being the most abundant organic material after cellulose. Chitin and its main industrial derivative, chitosan, constitute the principal biopolymers from marine feedstock available today and yet, their potential in terms of value-added products has not been exploited to fullness. Their use remains challenging to the scientific community and the industry due to a lack of understanding of the fundamental mechanisms dictating their behavior in different physical states and processes. This is mainly due to the large polydispersity in chain size and chemical composition intrinsic to natural polymers, in opposition to their synthetic counterparts.