Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics Research Group

Papers in Scientific Journals

Green processing of chitin porous structures for biomedical aapplications combining ionic liquids and supercritical fluid technology

Abstract

The application of green chemistry principles in the processing of materials for advanced technologies is a steadily increasing field of research. In this work porous chitin-based materials were developed by combining the processing of chitin using ionic liquids (ILs) as a green solvent together with the use of supercritical fluid technology (SCF) as clean technology. Chitin was dissolved in 1-butyl-3-imidazolium acetate, followed by regeneration of the polymer in ethanol in specific moulds. The IL was removed using Soxhlet extraction and successive steps of extraction with SCF using carbon dioxide/ethanol ratios of 50/50 and 70/30. The developed porous chitin-based structures (ChIL) can be classified as mesoporous materials, with very low density and high porosity. The cytotoxicity of ChIL extracts was investigated using L929 fibroblast-like cells, and the results demonstrated that the produced materials have extremely low cytotoxicity levels. Therefore, the findings suggest that the porous chitin structures may be potential candidates for a number of biomedical applications, including tissue engineering.

Journal
Acta Biomaterialia
Volume
7
Pagination
1166-1172
Publisher
Elsevier
ISSN
1742-7061
URL
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1742706110004514
Keywords
Biomaterials, BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS, chitin, ionic liquids, Supercritical drying
Rights
Restricted Access
Peer Reviewed
Yes
Status
published
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