It is with great satisfaction that we present this special issue in the International Journal of Carbohydrate Chemistry. Chitosan chemical derivatives have received increasing interest over the past decades due to their advocated chemical, biological, and functional advantages over unmodified chitosan. These include, but are not limited to, better solubility in aqueous solutions over a wider range of pH, gelling properties, possibility to revert the net charge from poly-cationic to polyanionic, design of hydrophobic derivatives with amphiphilic character and capacity to harness self-assembling nanostructures and chemical conjugates with an assortment of bioactive and therapeutic molecules; improved biocompatibility (e.g., hemocompatibility); enhanced properties for complexing pDNA or siRNA.
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