Abstract
Materials based on natural high molecular compounds are particularly interesting for biomedical applications. It is known that the cross-linking agent used for preparation of biomacromolecule-based materials is as important as used biopolymer. Therefore, natural cross-linkers containing reactive carbonyl groups are of great interest especially for modifying properties of natural polysaccharides. One of the most popular cross-linking agents is glutaraldehyde. Nevertheless, the unreacted particles can be released from the cross-linked material and cause cytotoxic effects. This can be eliminated when using a cross-linker based e.g., on polysaccharides. This article describes quick and efficient synthesis of dialdehyde chitosan (DACS) and its application for the preparation of chitosan films. Materials obtained with different amount of DACS were fully characterized in terms of structure and surface morphology. Thermal and mechanical properties as well as hydrophilic character were also examined. The results obtained were compared with the materials obtained by cross-linking chitosan with low molecular weight glutaraldehyde and high molecular weight cross-linking agent based on polysaccharide–dialdehyde starch. Toxicity of all obtained materials was tested using the Microtox® test. It has been shown that due to better mechanical, thermal and surface properties as well as lower toxicity, dialdehyde chitosan is a very promising crosslinking agent.
Highlights
A growing interest in low-toxic materials derived from natural sources or waste has been observed in many fields of material science and applications
Keshk et al reported that the reaction of chitosan with potassium periodate within 48 h led to the oxidized polysaccharide with 58.8% content of aldehyde groups [45]
Dialdehyde chitosan was obtained by one step and a quick reaction with sodium
Summary
A growing interest in low-toxic materials derived from natural sources or waste has been observed in many fields of material science and applications. Apart from biocompatibility and biodegradability, polysaccharides are susceptible to chemical modification, which allows their structure and properties to be tailored into the form required for their further use [3,4]. This approach can be seen in many fields of science and, in particular, in the design and synthesis of materials for medicine, pharmacy, and biological applications [5,6,7]. A polysaccharide derived from the partial deacetylation of chitin, is a cationic linear biopolymer [8,9] It has been widely considered as one of the safest biomaterials for various biomedical applications [10,11,12]. Chitosan-based materials have been studied so far as drug delivery systems [13,14], Materials 2020, 13, 3413; doi:10.3390/ma13153413 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
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