Insight into morphological, physicochemical and spectroscopic properties of ß-chitin nanocrystalline structures.

We systematically investigated the effect of ß-chitin (BCH) particle size on the preparation of nanocrystals/nanowhiskers (CWH) by acid hydrolysis. Regardless this variable, CWH aqueous suspension exhibited outstanding stability and the average degree of acetylation remained nearly constant after the acid treatment. In contrast, the morphology, dimensions, crystallinity, and molecular weight of CHW were significantly affect by the particle size. Although needle-like crystals have predominated, BCH particles sizes significantly affected the dimensions and asymmetry of CWH, as confirmed by the rheological and NMR relaxation (T2) behaviors. According to different SSNMR approaches, the acid hydrolysis meaningless affected the local chain conformation, while the spatial freedom of BCH intersheets, rated upon the mobility of methyl segments, was taken as evidence of higher permeability of acid into small particle sizes. Thus, this study demonstrated the importance of standardizing the surface/bulk proportions of ß-chitin aiming to predict and control the CWH morphology and related properties.

Tuning the properties of carboxymethylchitosan-based porous membranes for potential application as wound dressing.

Wound repair is a complex process that calls for strategies to allow a rapid and effective regeneration of injured skin, which has stimulated the research of advanced wound dressings. Herein, highly porous membranes of N,O-carboxymethylchitosan (CMCh), and poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were successfully prepared via a green and facile freeze-drying method of blend solutions containing CMCh/PVA at weight ratio 25/75. Membranes composed only by CMCh were also prepared and genipin was used for crosslinking. Different contents of TiO2 nanoparticles were incorporated to both type of membranes, which were characterized in terms of morphology, porosity (Φ), swelling capacity (S.C.), mechanical properties, susceptibility to lysozyme degradation and in vitro cytotoxicity toward human fibroblast (HDFn) and keratinocytes (HaCaT) cells. Larger apparent pores were observed in the surface of the genipin-crosslinked CMCh membrane, which resulted in higher porosity (Φ ≈ 76%) and swelling capacity (S.C. ≈ 1720%) as compared to CMCh/PVA membrane (Φ ≈ 68%; S.C. ≈ 1660%). The porosity of both types of membranes decreased upon the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles while swelling capacity increased. Due to their high porosity and swelling capacity, adequate mechanical properties, controlled degradability, and cytocompatibility, such carboxymethylchitosan-based membranes are potentially useful as wound dressings.