From Chitin to Chitosan - Chitosan Based Hydrogels: Functions and Applications - page 4

began to be attracted by this resource due to the first monograph of Professor Muzzarelli
from Cambridge University and the First International Conference on Chitin and Chitosan
[5]. The First International Conference on Chitin and Chitosan was held in Boston from April
11, 1977 to April 13, 1977, and scientists from the United States, the former Soviet Union,
Japan, Norway, Canada, South Africa, Belgium, Britain, Nigeria, India, Italy, and Chile
attended this conference. During the conference 47 reports were submitted, which focused
on distribution of chitin and chitosan in nature, the separation method, properties, and
applications in different fields, especially application of chitin and chitosan in wastewater
treatment. This conference was a milestone in the research, development, and applications
of chitin and chitosan.
Thereafter, many countries started to provide investments, resources, and labor power
for research and industrial applications of chitin and chitosan. During this period, Japan
had made great achievements in research and applications [6]. Many of their findings were
advanced. Moreover, other countries and regions such as China, Korea, Singapore, and
Thailand also had some valuable findings in research. From then on, China began to play
an increasingly important role in research in Asia and the world.
In October 1996, the Chinese Chemical Society held the first China Chemical and Application
Symposium on Chitin in Dalian, opening Chinese chitin/chitosan academic exchanges. In
November 1997, the Chitin Resources Research and Development Seminar was held in Qingdao.
In October 1999, the Chinese Chemical Society held the second China Chemical and Application
Symposium on Chitin in Wuhan, and during the meeting, the Chinese Chemical Chitin
Seminar was formally established. In 2001, the third China Chemical and Application
Symposium on Chitin was held in Zhejiang Yuhuan County; it was a milestone in chitin/
chitosan research. Then, in 2004, the fourth China Chemical and Application Symposium on
Chitin was held in Guangxi Beihai. In 2006, the fifth China Chemical and Application Symposium
on Chitin held in Nanjing had a profound influence, and in order to confirm the need for
developing and promoting application research, the meeting was renamed the fifth Chinese
Chemical Society Chitin Chemical Biology and Application Technology Symposium . From the
contents of the papers presented at the conference, fundamental research and innovation
achievements significantly increased, and the number of young researchers increased
significantly, indicating a vigorous development period for Chinese chitin/chitosan
research. In June 2006, the Chinese Chemical Society professional committee on chitin, the
Chinese Society of Biotechnology professional committee on sugar biotechnology, and the
Chinese Society of Oceanography professional committee on marine bioengineering spon-
sored a chitin and its derivatives conference in Qingdao, and more than 30 experts leading
research on chitin/chitosan made a congress report. From the report, research on medicine
and biological materials has become a focus, indicating that chitin/chitosan have a wide
range of potential applications in nanobiomaterials, bioactive materials, and environmen-
tal-friendly functional materials.
Since 1977 when the first International Conference on Chitin and Chitosan was held in Boston,
another 10 conferences on the same topic have been held. The eighth, ninth, and tenth
conferences held in Japan, Canada, and France, respectively, were greatly enhanced in
scale, number of attendees, and topics, reflecting that scientists highly value chitin and
chitosan. Several monographs on chitin and chitosan were also published abroad [7-9].
Over the last 10 years, chemical modification methods of chitin/chitosan have improved
a lot owing to the development of environment-friendly functional materials and subjects
merging. The modifications not only helped research on the structure-activity relation-
ship, but also contributed to the development of special functional polymer materials.
Chitin and chitosan relevant research and product development are in full swing now.