chitin

The DFG is establishing eight new priority programs for 2023. A total of 53 million euros will be available to them over the next 3 years. The aim of the priority programs is to investigate the scientific basis of particularly current or emerging research areas. We are therefore very excited that one of them is focused on the topic of chitin and chitosan.

Commercial extraction of chitin is mainly from the shells of crustaceans such as snow crabs. Fungi and insects are alternative sources of chitin, which are poorly usable so far. The expansion of insect farming for animal feed production in recent years has increased the availability of insect biomass. In the following, we present a review that provides an overview of recently published studies on the extraction of chitin from insects and its conversion to chitosan.

Pangolins received a lot of attention in the current corona crisis. But what kind of animals are these pangolins, which look like a pine cone when rolled up? And why do they need chitin in their special diet? Answers to those questions and more facts in this article.

In February 2012 the Technical University (TU) of Vienna filed a patent for a new production method of the popular pharmaceutical raw material N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuNAc). Molds were used as “chemical factories” and were combined with the biological raw material chitin to obtain the desired final product.

A cooperation project of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the American University of Minnesota opens a new window to the production of bio fuels. The common starchy plant substrates are seen to be substituted by cellulose and chitin – natural polysaccharides that are not used as food.

Bruno Alonso and Emmanuel Belamie of the Charles Gerhardt Institute in Montpellier, France developed a new large-scale synthesis of bioorganic-inorganic nanocomposites: self-organising chitin-silicon dioxide nanocomposites with unpredecented specificity in texture and structure of the product.

Since December 2009 Heppe Medical Chitosan GmbH is patron of the words chitin and chitosan. Word patrons commit to protect their words, to use them carefully, to preserve them and to enhance their application.

150 Years ago C. Rouget discovered the biopolymer chitosan when cooking chitin in a base. Ever since, the interest in this polymer is increasing constantly. On the one hand new application fields are developed over and over again. On the other hand the primary material chitin is a renewable resource, which is generated as by-product in huge annual quantities in food-industry.

Heppe Medical Chitosan GmbH is a dynamic and innovative company in the interesting chitin and chitosan. For a number of years its employees have been working on the refinement of natural raw materials into high-purity structure and bond-creating materials.

Chitin belongs to the biopolymer group and its fibrous structure is similar to cellulose.