Progress in chitin analytics

Mikhail V Tsurkan; Alona Voronkina; Yuliya Khrunyk; Marcin Wysokowski; Iaroslav Petrenko; Hermann Ehrlich

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.117204

Progress in chitin analytics

Carbohydr Polym. 2021 Jan 15:252:117204. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.117204. Epub 2020 Oct 10.

Authors

Mikhail V Tsurkan¹, Alona Voronkina², Yuliya Khrunyk³, Marcin Wysokowski⁴, Iaroslav Petrenko⁵, Hermann Ehrlich⁶

Affiliations

¹ Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials Dresden, Hohe str. 6, 01069 Dresden, Germany. Electronic address: tsurkan@ipfdd.de.
² Department of Pharmacy, National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, 21018 Vinnitsa, Ukraine.
³ Department of Heat Treatment and Physics of Metal, Ural Federal University, 620002 Ekaterinburg, Russia; The Institute of High Temperature Electrochemistry of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 620990 Ekaterinburg, Russia.
⁴ Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology, Poznan University of Technology, 60965 Poznan, Poland; Institute of Electronic and Sensor Materials, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 09599 Freiberg, Germany.
⁵ Institute of Electronic and Sensor Materials, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 09599 Freiberg, Germany.
⁶ Institute of Electronic and Sensor Materials, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 09599 Freiberg, Germany; Center for Advanced Technology, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61614 Poznan, Poland. Electronic address: Hermann.ehrlich@esm.tu-freiberg.de.

PMID: 33183639
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.117204

Abstract

Chitin is the second most abundant biopolymer and functions as the main structural component in a variety of living organisms. In nature, chitin rarely occurs in a pure form, but rather as nanoorganized chitin-proteins, chitin-pigments, or chitin-mineral composite biomaterials. Although chitin has a long history of scientific studies, it is still extensively investigated for practical applications in medicine, biotechnology, and biomimetics. The complexity of chitin has required the development of highly sensitive analytical methods for its identification. These methods are crucial for furthering disease diagnostics as well as advancing modern chitin-related technologies. Here we provide a summary of chitin identification by spectroscopic (NEXAFS, FTIR, Raman, NMR, colorimetry), chromatographic (TLC, GC, HPLC), electrophoretic (HPCE), and diffraction methods (XRD, WAXS, SAXS, HRTEM-SAED). Biochemical and immunochemical (ELISA, immunostaining) methods are described with respect to their medical application. This review outlines the history as well as the current progress in the analytical methods for chitin identification.

Keywords: Chitin; Identification; Methods.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Chitin* / chemistry
Chitin* / ultrastructure
Chromatography / methods*
Electrophoresis / methods*
Immunoassay / methods*
Spectrum Analysis / methods*

Substances

Chitin