Unprecedented Chitin and Chitosan: A Chemical Overview

Chitin and Chitosan are polysaccharide polymers. Polysaccharide is a carbohydrate whose molecules consist of a number of sugar molecules bonded together. It contains more than 5,000 acetylglucosamine and glucosamine (sugar) units, respectively and their molecular weights are over one million Daltons. Most of the naturally occurring polysaccharides are neutral or acidic in nature, whereas Chitin and Chitosan are examples of highly basic polysaccharides. Chitin is isolated from crab and shrimp waste and is a renewable resource. It is widely accepted that this biopolymer is an important biomaterial in many aspects. This review explores the various aspects of Chitin research.