Patentology of chitinous biomaterials. Part I: Chitin.

Chitin as one of the fundamental structural biological materials widely occurring in broad diversity of uni- and multicellular organisms focuses attention of experts in biomedicine, materials science, and technology. We are the first to present a patentological overview of chitin as a renewable bioactive material that has stimulated the progress in many fields of applied science worldwide. Such directions as biomedicine, materials science and engineering, chemistry and biochemistry, biotechnology, pharmaceutics, cosmetics, food and feed additives, agriculture as well as environmental science are considered. The overview provides crucial information for progression in modern patentology of chitin and corresponding derivatives. For the first time, we would like to discuss the challenges, solutions, and future directions of chitin related patents for applied materials science.