Grafted Polysaccharides Smart Materials of the Future, Their Synthesis and Applications

Keywords Ceric ammonium nitrate, controlled drug release, flocculation, microwave assisted grafting, molecular programming, polysaccharide, SEM, intrinsic viscosity, rheology, drug delivery system 

Polysaccharide materials are the most abundant and diverse molecules present as an integral part of the natural system on this planet. They are renewable, biodegradable and can be cultivated as plant biomass, which is essentially made of polysaccharides. Nature has been using polysaccharides from time immemorial. Polysaccharides serve as structural material (e.g. the cell walls of plant cells), and are used for energy storage in the form of starch in plant cells and as glycogen in the liver cells of animals. 

Susheel Kalia and Luc Averous (eds.) Biopolymers Biomedical and Environmental Applications, (99-128) Scrivener Publishing LLC 

Since the beginning of time, polysaccharides have been of immense importance to human civilization. They are a vital component of our food as an energy source (e.g. starch), and also as roughage (e.g. cellulose fibers) which aids in digestion. They are the earliest known structural materials, i.e. in the form of wood (which is chiefly cellulose, a polysaccharide), that still hold a prominent place as an engineering material. The role of polysaccharides in human civiUzation is vast, and they surround us all the time, even in this era of synthetic materials/plastics in the form of textiles, paper, glue, food and food additives, etc., without causing any major environmental disposal problems (unlike their synthetic counterparts). 

the industrial applications of these natural (unmodified) polysaccharides are huge. So, it is obvious that their chemical modifications, tailor-made towards specific property, can result in new materials with much wider applications for human civilization. 

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Grafted Polysaccharides Smart Materials of the Future, Their Synthesis and Applications... 

Sen G, Sharon A, Pal S. Grafted polysaccharides smart materials of the future, their synthesis and applications (Chapter 05). In Susheel K, Luc A, editors. Biopolymers Biomedical and Environmental Applications. Hoboken Wiley-Scrivener, John WUey Sons, Inc. 2011. 

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