Glycidol chitosan

Chitosan is a cationic biodgradable and biocompatible biopolymer that has been commonly used in many applications. The polymer chains are positively charged when disolved in aqueous solutions of pH<6.5. However, the biomedical applications of the positively charged chitosan are limited becuase it cannot be easily dissolved in aqueous media. Glycidol chitosan is a derivative of chitosan whereby hydrohilic glycidol is grafted onto the amino groups of chitosan to improve its solubility in a wider range of pH. It possesses many useful biological properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and antimicrobial properties. It can also be further functionalized to induce photo and thermally crosslinkable properites and can be used as a precursor for hydrogel preparations that can be used in many biomedical applications.