Recent developments in improving the emulsifying properties of chitosan

Chitosan is one of the valuable products obtained from crustacean waste. The unique characteristics of chitosan (antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory) have increased its application in various sectors. Besides unique biological properties, chitosan or chitosan-based compounds can stabilize emulsions. Nevertheless, studies have shown that chitosan cannot be used as an efficient stabilizer because of its high hydrophilicity. Hence, this review aims to provide an overview of recent studies dealing with improving the emulsifying properties of chitosan. In general, two different approaches have been reported to improve the emulsifying properties of chitosan. The first approach tries to improve the stabilization property of chitosan by modifying its structure.

Highlights

Chitosan‘s application in classic, multilayer, and Pickering emulsions is discussed.

Chitosan alone is not an effective emulsifier.

The methods of improving the emulsifying properties of chitosan were reviewed.

Challenges and prospects of using chitosan in emulsions are presented.

The second one uses compounds such as polysaccharides, proteins, surfactants, essential oils, and polyphenols with more wettability and emulsifying properties than chitosan’s particles in combination with chitosan to create complex particles. The tendency to use chitosan-based particles to stabilize Pickering emulsions has recently increased. For this reason, more studies have been conducted in recent years to improve the stabilizing properties of chitosan-based particles, especially using the electrostatic interaction method. In the electrostatic interaction method, numerous research has been conducted on using proteins and polysaccharides to increase the stabilizing property of chitosan.

Yadong Yang, Vijai Kumar Gupta, Hamid Amiri, Junting Pan, Mortaza Aghbashlo, Meisam Tabatabaei, Ahmad Rajaei,
Recent developments in improving the emulsifying properties of chitosan, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 2023, 124210, ISSN 0141-8130, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124210.

See our introduction article on chitosan