150 Years Chitosan - an all-round-talent is discovered

150 Years ago C. Rouget discovered the biopolymer chitosan when cooking chitin in a base. Ever since, the interest in this polymer is increasing constantly. On the one hand new application fields are developed over and over again. On the other hand the primary material chitin is a renewable resource, which is generated as by-product in huge annual quantities in food-industry.

Although Poly-D-Glucosamine, the chemical name of Chitosan, was already discovered in the middle of the 19th century, it only gains in importance in research since the 1960's. Pioneers were Prof. Hirano of the University of Tottori in Japan, Prof. Muzzarelli of the University of Ancona in Italy as well as Prof. Peter of the University of Potsdam in Germany. First publications point to a very wide spectrum of applications of chitosan, which needs to be investigated. In this note, since the 1970's the annual rate of papers that focus chitosan as main subject is rising continuously.

Chitosan is an all-round talent that can be used in many application areas. Therefore branches of industry as well as branches of economic activities are interested in co-operations with research institutions to investigate and optimize the production and application of chitosan. Best example of such co-operations is the project NanoBioSaccharide, which was financially supported by the EU.

Primarily in the field of cosmetic the bio-polysaccharide chitosan is of great interest. In this sector chitosan is already in use. Cosmetic Industry benefits of the positive properties of chitosan for example in toothpaste, handcream (e.g. Kaloderma Hand & Nail Cream) or in styling products (e.g. made by Logona Natural Cosmetics). The most common and known use of chitosan is probably as a dietary agent, to bind fats. Other fields of application  are in textile- and paper-industry and in medicine and pharmaceuticals. One example is the employment as a surgical haemostatic wound dressing produced by HemCon and used by the US military.A chitosan matrix serves as haemostasis and to cover the wound.

In the last 10 years, research concentrates on drug delivery systems with chitosan and the formation of micro- and nano particles.

We are curious what the next 150 of chitosan research might bring - with the production of pure and ultrapure chitosan we will have our shar e in it. In our news area, we continue to present you the latest news in chitin and chitosan research.