title: Surface active properties of chitosan and its derivatives.
abstract: This review discusses the definition of surface active agents and specifically natural polymeric surface active agents. Chitosan by itself was found to have weak surface activity since it has no hydrophobic segments. Chemical modifications of chitosan could improve such surface activity. This is achieved by introducing hydrophobic substituents in its glucosidic group. Several examples of chitosan derivatives with surfactant activity have been surveyed. The surface active polymers form micelles and aggregates which have enormous importance in the entrapment of water-insoluble drugs and consequently applications in the controlled drug delivery and many biomedical fields. Chitosan also interacts with several substrates by electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions with considerable biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, 12613 Cairo 12613, Egypt. mzelsabee@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Maher Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Elsabee
authors.forename: Rania Elsayed
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Morsi
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Al-Sabagh
mesh_terms: D048271:Chitosan / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants / Q000737:chemistry; D012996:Solutions; D013499:Surface Properties; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011663:Pulmonary Surfactants; D012996:Solutions; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D048271:Chitosan