Title : Modifications of chitin-glucan complex in ionic liquids: A tool to generate nanostructured materials for tissue engineering
Abstract:
Chitin and related chitosan are important biopolymers with antibacterial activity, even more medically relevant effects possess various types of water soluble glucans. Both polysaccharides are present mainly in various fungi like Aspergillus niger, which also contain important or even dominant fraction of chitin-glucan complex (CGC). In spite of its high suitability for different medicinal applications, the potential of CGC is not fully exploited due to insolubility in most of traditional solvents. In this area is most effective way application of various ionic liquids (IL), which allow or even support many chemical modifications. In this work we focused on parallel modifications of both constituents of CGC, including grafting of polymer chains. Presented are effects of modification on solubility in IL and other solvents including formation of self-assembled structures. In the case of polycaprolactone and polylactide chains grafting, effects of such modifications on ordering in IL is highlighted. This work was supported by Ministry of Education Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (Grant LUAUS 23004)
Audience take away Notes:
- Highlighting of chemical modifications of CGC
- Effect of chemical modifications of CGC on ordering in IL
- Introduction of a new tool to prepare CGC-based nanostructures
