Modification of chitosan derivatives of environmental and biological interest: a green chemistry approach.

Chitosan is a non-toxic polyaminosaccharide that is available in a variety of useful forms, and its chemical and biological properties make it a very attractive biomaterial that could be used in a wide variety of medicinal applications. This work focuses on the preparation of different chitosan derivatives by treatment with ethyl cellulose, cellulose triacetate and different carbohydrates in both neutral and slightly acidic media. It also addresses modification with glycidyltrimethyl ammonium chloride, phthalic anhydride and succinic acid derivatives. The obtained derivatives were crosslinked with glutaraldehyde. Thermo-gravimetric (TGA) and FT-IR spectroscopic analyses and electron scanning microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the obtained products and demonstrate the success of the chitosan-modification process. The obtained products were tested for their ability to uptake transition metal ions from aqueous solutions, and their ion-uptake efficiency was determined with the aid of the ICP-AES technique. The bioactivity of some selected products was tested to study the effect of their concentrations on selected microorganisms. Burkholderia cepaci, Aspergillus niger, and Candida albicans were selected as representative examples of bacteria, yeasts and fungi, respectively.