Chitin is the second most abundant natural biopolymer in the world, behind only cellulose. It is also the most abundant naturally occurring polysaccharide that contains amino sugars. This abundance, combined with the specific chemistry of chitin and its derivative chitosan, make for the array of potential applications. Chitosan is a fine off white, odorless Powder extracted from Crab and Shrimp Shells and its derivatives offer uses in three areas of cosmetics: hair care, skin care and oral care. Products have already reached the market in all three areas. We supply Chitosan at varied deacetylation values (80 – 95%) and mesh sizes (35 to 100). We also supply High Bulk Density Chitosan (HBDC) ideally suitable for encapsulation, having a bulk density of 0.8gm/ml and 0 mesh size to 100 Mesh.
 
Applications

Chitin & Chitosan have a wide variety of uses in health care. Most important are Wound Care, Implants fat & cholesterol – binding drugs, and drug delivery.

• Fat Absorbent : The ability of the Chitosan molecule to scavenge fat and cholesterol in the digestive system, plucking it from the stomach and excreting it in the duodenum, has significant implications for its use as a beneficial food additive. Food containing Chitosan or Chitosan complexed with a fatty acid, could be designed to reduce obesity, cholesterol levels and the incidence of colon cancer.
• Wound Healing Ointment : An obvious method of exploiting Chitin’s wound-healing properties is to use the material in ointments for treating wounds.
• Wound Dressing : Several research groups and companies, notably in Japan, have devised methods of making wound dressings from Chitin or Chitosan. This type of dressing is used for burns, surface wounds and skin-graft donor sites.
• Surgical Sutures : These work by remaining in tissue long enough to permit healing to occur and then slowly dissolving; therefore, they need not be removed. Unlike several other suture materials that are absorbed by the body, these do not cause allergic reactions.
• Opthalmology : Both contact lenses and the intraocular lenses used in cataract surgery must have one significant characteristic gas permeability. Chitin and Chitosan can make lenses more permeable to oxygen than other lens materials. This could be particularly useful for injured eyes, because Chitin & Chitosan also help to heal the wounds. In adition, Chitin does not adhere to eye wounds; that makes removing the lenses from the eyes safer. Hard contact lenses can also be prepared using Chitin n-butyrate.
• Dental : Since, Chitin can regenerate the connective tissue that covers the teeth near the gums, it has possibilities for treating periodontal diseases such as gingivitis and periodontis
• Orthopaedics : Chitin has shown strong possibilities in Orthopaedics as an agent that helps bones to heal. Filaments and rods of Chitin also have the potential to be applied as temporary artificial ligaments for knees and other orthopedic application that require less rigid fixation.
• Glucosamine : Chitin is also used in the manufacture of Glucosamine, which provides the building blocks for the body to make and repair cartilage. Strong potential also exists for Chitosan as an alternative to collagen in treating wrinkles , acne, scars and other injuries to soft skin tissue.
• Feed Ingredients : Chitin and Chitosan offer three main benefits as components of animal feeds. They permit food processors to recycle protein from food processing waste into animal feed ; they have beneficial nutritional properties; and they control the release of feed additives in ruminant animals.
• Agriculture : Chitin and Chitosan have three potential uses in Agriculture ; as a seed treatment , a nematocide, and a feed ingredient. Chitinase enzymes have potential as insecticide adjuvants. They work by attacking the Chitin that exists in the exoskeletons of insects.
• Cosmetics and Toiletries : Chitin, Chitosan and their derivatives offer uses in three areas of cosmetics: haircare, skin care and oral care. Products have already reached the market in all three areas.

• Hair Care :
  
  • Chitosan and hair are complementary because they carry opposite electrical charges – Chitosan positive and hair negative . A Clear solution that contains chitosan forms a clear, elastic film on hair, increasing its softness and mechanical strength. The material can also form a gel when added to mixtures of alcohol and water.
  • Chitosan acts as an antistatic thereby orotectine hair from wavine and bleaching agents. It helps to retain moisture in low humidity and to maintain hair’s style in high humidity. The material can be used in shampoos , rinses, permanent wave agents, hair colourants, styling lotions, hair sprays and hair tonics.
  • Several derivatives of chitosan and chitin have potential applications in hair care. They include glyceryl chitosan, an adduct of an oligomer of hydrolyzed chitosan-hydroxypropyl chitosan, Quaternary hydroxypropyl – substituted chitosan, polyoxyaimkylene chitosan. Chitosan oligosaccharides, chitin sulphate and carboxymethyl chitin. Some derivatives of chitosan can form foam and create emulsitying action. And chitin powder can be used directly in shampoo.

• Skin Care :
  
  • Chitosan and its derivatives have two advantages that make it suitable for skin care; their positive electrical charge, and the fact that the molecular weights of most chitosan products are so high that they cannot penetrate the skin. Thus for example Chitosan can function as a moisturizer for skin. Because of its lower costs, it might compete with hyaluronic acid in this application. Both Chitosan and chitin are already found in creams, pack material, lotions, nail enamel, foundation, eye shadow, lipstick , cleansing materials and bath agents.
  • In many cases, cosmetics companies use the same derivatives and formulations for skin care that they apply in products for hair care. Also used for skin care are chitosan acylated with an organic diacid anhydride, and fine particles of chitin and chitosan.

• Oral Care : Both chitin and chitosan can be used in toothpaste , mouthwashes and chewing gum, they freshen the breath and prevent the formulation of plaque and tooth decay. Salts of chitosan added to tooth paste mask the unpleasant taste of silicon oxide and bind powders so that they maintain their granular shapes. Chitin can also be applied as a dental filler material. And both Chitin and Chitosan absorb candida a thicans, a fungus that sticks to teeth making them candidates to clean false teeth.
• Waste and Water Treatment : The ability of Chitosan to bind metals, combined with its floculating properties, provide applications in treating drinking water, pools and spas, and various waste streams.
• Product Seperation and Recovery : Membranes of Chitin and Chitosan and chromatographic columns can be used to separate and recover products. Both substances can also encapsulate adsorbents or coagulate suspended material.

Chitin is the second most abundant natural biopolymer in the world, behind only cellulose. It is also the most abundant naturally occurring polysaccharide that contains amino sugars. This abundance, combined with the specific chemistry of chitin and its derivative chitosan, make for the array of potential applications. Chitosan is a fine off white, odorless Powder extracted from Crab and Shrimp Shells and its derivatives offer uses in three areas of cosmetics: hair care, skin care and oral care. Products have already reached the market in all three areas. We supply Chitosan at varied deacetylation values (80 – 95%) and mesh sizes (35 to 100). We also supply High Bulk Density Chitosan (HBDC) ideally suitable for encapsulation, having a bulk density of 0.8gm/ml and 0 mesh size to 100 Mesh.
 
Applications

Chitin & Chitosan have a wide variety of uses in health care. Most important are Wound Care, Implants fat & cholesterol – binding drugs, and drug delivery.

• Fat Absorbent : The ability of the Chitosan molecule to scavenge fat and cholesterol in the digestive system, plucking it from the stomach and excreting it in the duodenum, has significant implications for its use as a beneficial food additive. Food containing Chitosan or Chitosan complexed with a fatty acid, could be designed to reduce obesity, cholesterol levels and the incidence of colon cancer.
• Wound Healing Ointment : An obvious method of exploiting Chitin’s wound-healing properties is to use the material in ointments for treating wounds.
• Wound Dressing : Several research groups and companies, notably in Japan, have devised methods of making wound dressings from Chitin or Chitosan. This type of dressing is used for burns, surface wounds and skin-graft donor sites.
• Surgical Sutures : These work by remaining in tissue long enough to permit healing to occur and then slowly dissolving; therefore, they need not be removed. Unlike several other suture materials that are absorbed by the body, these do not cause allergic reactions.
• Opthalmology : Both contact lenses and the intraocular lenses used in cataract surgery must have one significant characteristic gas permeability. Chitin and Chitosan can make lenses more permeable to oxygen than other lens materials. This could be particularly useful for injured eyes, because Chitin & Chitosan also help to heal the wounds. In adition, Chitin does not adhere to eye wounds; that makes removing the lenses from the eyes safer. Hard contact lenses can also be prepared using Chitin n-butyrate.
• Dental : Since, Chitin can regenerate the connective tissue that covers the teeth near the gums, it has possibilities for treating periodontal diseases such as gingivitis and periodontis
• Orthopaedics : Chitin has shown strong possibilities in Orthopaedics as an agent that helps bones to heal. Filaments and rods of Chitin also have the potential to be applied as temporary artificial ligaments for knees and other orthopedic application that require less rigid fixation.
• Glucosamine : Chitin is also used in the manufacture of Glucosamine, which provides the building blocks for the body to make and repair cartilage. Strong potential also exists for Chitosan as an alternative to collagen in treating wrinkles , acne, scars and other injuries to soft skin tissue.
• Feed Ingredients : Chitin and Chitosan offer three main benefits as components of animal feeds. They permit food processors to recycle protein from food processing waste into animal feed ; they have beneficial nutritional properties; and they control the release of feed additives in ruminant animals.
• Agriculture : Chitin and Chitosan have three potential uses in Agriculture ; as a seed treatment , a nematocide, and a feed ingredient. Chitinase enzymes have potential as insecticide adjuvants. They work by attacking the Chitin that exists in the exoskeletons of insects.
• Cosmetics and Toiletries : Chitin, Chitosan and their derivatives offer uses in three areas of cosmetics: haircare, skin care and oral care. Products have already reached the market in all three areas.

• Hair Care :
  
  • Chitosan and hair are complementary because they carry opposite electrical charges – Chitosan positive and hair negative . A Clear solution that contains chitosan forms a clear, elastic film on hair, increasing its softness and mechanical strength. The material can also form a gel when added to mixtures of alcohol and water.
  • Chitosan acts as an antistatic thereby orotectine hair from wavine and bleaching agents. It helps to retain moisture in low humidity and to maintain hair’s style in high humidity. The material can be used in shampoos , rinses, permanent wave agents, hair colourants, styling lotions, hair sprays and hair tonics.
  • Several derivatives of chitosan and chitin have potential applications in hair care. They include glyceryl chitosan, an adduct of an oligomer of hydrolyzed chitosan-hydroxypropyl chitosan, Quaternary hydroxypropyl – substituted chitosan, polyoxyaimkylene chitosan. Chitosan oligosaccharides, chitin sulphate and carboxymethyl chitin. Some derivatives of chitosan can form foam and create emulsitying action. And chitin powder can be used directly in shampoo.

• Skin Care :
  
  • Chitosan and its derivatives have two advantages that make it suitable for skin care; their positive electrical charge, and the fact that the molecular weights of most chitosan products are so high that they cannot penetrate the skin. Thus for example Chitosan can function as a moisturizer for skin. Because of its lower costs, it might compete with hyaluronic acid in this application. Both Chitosan and chitin are already found in creams, pack material, lotions, nail enamel, foundation, eye shadow, lipstick , cleansing materials and bath agents.
  • In many cases, cosmetics companies use the same derivatives and formulations for skin care that they apply in products for hair care. Also used for skin care are chitosan acylated with an organic diacid anhydride, and fine particles of chitin and chitosan.

• Oral Care : Both chitin and chitosan can be used in toothpaste , mouthwashes and chewing gum, they freshen the breath and prevent the formulation of plaque and tooth decay. Salts of chitosan added to tooth paste mask the unpleasant taste of silicon oxide and bind powders so that they maintain their granular shapes. Chitin can also be applied as a dental filler material. And both Chitin and Chitosan absorb candida a thicans, a fungus that sticks to teeth making them candidates to clean false teeth.
• Waste and Water Treatment : The ability of Chitosan to bind metals, combined with its floculating properties, provide applications in treating drinking water, pools and spas, and various waste streams.
• Product Seperation and Recovery : Membranes of Chitin and Chitosan and chromatographic columns can be used to separate and recover products. Both substances can also encapsulate adsorbents or coagulate suspended material.