REVIEW: PREPARATION AND APPLICATION OF MAGNETIC CHITOSAN DERIVATIVES IN SEPARATION PROCESSES

Chitosan is one of the most abundant natural polysaccharide in nature. Due to its unique properties, chitosan has fascinated the scientific community since its discovery. When modified with other materials and combined with magnetic particles, the resulting composite material, a magnetic chitosan derivative, is provided with three significant characteristics. First, chitosan has excellent properties for preconcentration/extraction, such as adsorption and chelating effects, low cost, and nontoxicity. Second, new functional groups have enhanced the properties of chitosan that include water solubility, stability, recyclability, and enhanced adsorption capacity. Finally, due to the efficient and fast adsorption processes, as well as simple and convenient magnetic separation, the magnetic adsorbents greatly reduce the time of sample handling. In this article, recent synthesis and modification methods of magnetic chitosan derivatives are reviewed along with some applications in analytical separations.