Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of site-specii c modii cation reactions, making i nal products readily soluble in neutral
water, as well as common organic solvents and promising as a new type of water-soluble
amino polysaccharides [119]. Another example of interaction of cellulose ad chitin can
be found in Kono
et al.
[120], in which the authors reported a detailed study of biode-
gradable superabsorbent hydrogels prepared from the homogeneous mixture of cellu-
lose and chitin dissolved in lithium chloride (LiCl)/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP),
showing that the hybrid hydrogels are expected to be easily applicable for agricultural
and industrial uses. In Kuzmina
et al.
[121], ionic liquids are identii ed as prospective
and ei cient solvents for blending cellulose and chitosan, which do not require chitosan
derivatives to improve the miscibility of chitosan and cellulose.
Another application of the cellulose/chitin hybrid can be found by Parinaz Akhlaghi
et al.
[122], in which a novel drug delivery system based on two of the most abun-
dant natural biopolymers was developed by modifying the surface of oxidized cellu-
lose nanocrystal (CNC) with chitosan oligosaccharide (CSOS), showing as this system
can be used as biocompatible and biodegradable drug carriers for transdermal delivery
applications. In the case of collagen, De Mesquita
et al.
[123] proposed the layer-by-
layer (LBL) assembly technique to combine crystalline rod-like nanoparticles obtained
from a vegetable source, cellulose nanowhiskers (CNWs) with collagen, and the
approach used in this work clearly represents a potential strategy to mimic the charac-
teristics of natural extracellular matrix (ECM) which can be used for applications in the
Figure 6.2
(A) Cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) mediated synthesis of Ag nanoparticles on
cellulose nanocrystals; (B) Free standing clay nanopaper showing a large-area and translucent sample and
inset (Scanning electron image of cryo-fractured surface for hybrid MFC/montmorrillonite nanopaper);
(C) FE-SEM micrograph of the cross-section of GNP-incorporated BC membrane and (D) FE-SEM
image of freeze-dried pellicle of BC/D-ChNC nanocomposite synthesized in situ. Reprinted with
permission from [60] and [117].
