Chitosan functionalized poly(vinyl alcohol) for prospects biomedical and industrial applications: A review

Chitin and chitosan are amino polysaccharides having multidimensional properties, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, antibacterial properties and non-toxicity, muco-adhesivity, adsorption properties, etc., and thus they can be widely used in variety of areas. Although human history mainly relies on the biopolymers, however synthetic materials like polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) have good mechanical, chemical and physical properties. Functionalization of PVA with chitin and chitosan is considered very appropriate for the development of well-designed biomaterials such as biodegradable films, for membrane separation, for tissue engineering, for food packaging, for wound healing and dressing, hydro gels formation, gels formation, etc. Considering versatile properties of the chitin and chitosan, and wide industrial and biomedical applications of PVA, this review sheds a light on chitin and chitosan based PVA materials with their potential applications especially focusing the bio-medical field. All the technical scientific issues have been addressed highlighting the recent advancement. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.