Crustacean derived chitosan as a sustainable functional biomater 2026 Next M

Chitosan, a deacetylated derivative of chitin, has become a popular sustainable and multifunctional biomaterial owing to its biodegradability, biocompatibility, and tunable physicochemical features. Chitosan is mainly produced from waste crustacean shells, which encourages a circular bioeconomy approach by transforming marine waste into high-value products. This review systematically summarizes crustacean-derived chitosan, focusing on its source variation, structural chemistry, and important characteristics, such as the degree of deacetylation, molecular weight, and solubility. It includes traditional extraction techniques and focuses on recent trends in green extraction technologies, highlighting sustainable methods such as enzymatic processing, microbial fermentation, ionic liquids, and deep eutectic solvents for effective and eco-friendly extraction. The use of key characterization techniques, such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and thermal analysis, to explore the structure-property relationships was assessed. The structural characteristics of chitosan are correlated with its biological and functional properties, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, biocompatibility, and immunomodulatory activities. These include, but are not limited to, applications in biomedical engineering, drug delivery, tissue engineering, dentistry, food preservation, and environmental remediation.