Purification of Carboxymethyl Chitosan and Investigation of its properties

Biopolymers from marine sources have been studied and used in commercial applications and product development for a number of years. Chitosan, a linear polysaccharide consisting of glucosamine and N-acetyl glucosamine derived mainly from crustacean shells, has been used in many technical applications such as water purification (as a flocculant), in cosmetics, and recently as a proposed fatbinding weight control product because of its nontoxicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability. In solution, the cationic nature of chitosan gives this polymer a mucoadhesive property. Chitosan salts, like carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) as a smi-synthetic biopolymer, can be used as a matrix or scaffold material as well as in nonparenteral delivery systems for challenging drugs. CMCS has been shown to increase the transport of polar drugs across the nasal epithelial surface. The purpose of this work is to identify key parameters relevant for the characterization of CMCS for the development of new commercial applications of that for the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries.