Extraction, Purification, Characterization, Applications of Chitosan, Plant Gum Polysaccharides, and Other...

Polysaccharides from plant gum, chitosan from animal origin, and other polysaccharides are biologically active, nontoxic, biodegradable, and biocompatible with a wider range of clinical and general applications. The properties of these biological-derived polysaccharides play a major role in their application. This review outlines the different techniques used in the extraction of polysaccharides from plant and animal sources. The importance of the purity of polysaccharides is crucial; thus, techniques such as deproteination and other chromatography techniques are elaborated. Evaluation of properties of polysaccharides using spectroscopy methods, including UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and microscopic methods, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy, is detailed. These biological polysaccharides have been used in various fields including tissue engineering, nanotechnology, and drug delivery. These applications are elaborately covered in detail in this review.