Open Access

REVIEW

A Review of Various Sources of Chitin and Chitosan in Nature

by Benedict Terkula Iber^1,2,*, Nor Azman Kasan^1,*, Donald Torsabo^1,2, Jenifer Wese Omuwa²

1 Higher Institution Center of Excellence (HICoE), Institute of Tropical Aquaculture and Fisheries, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, 21030, Malaysia
2 Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University Makurdi, Makurdi, 2373, Nigeria

* Corresponding Authors: Benedict Terkula Iber. Email: ; Nor Azman Kasan. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Renewable Material from Agricultural Waste and By-Product and Its Applications)

Journal of Renewable Materials 2022, 10(4), 1097-1123. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2022.018142

Received 01 July 2021; Accepted 06 August 2021; Issue published 02 November 2021

Abstract

Chitin was first discovered by its name from the Greek word “chiton”, which means “mail coat”. It is indeed a polysaccharide made up of naturally occurring acetyl-D-glucosamine monomers. Hatchett was the first researcher who extracted chitin from the shells of mollusks (crabs and lobsters), prawns, and crayfish in 1799. Later in 1811, Henri Braconnot discovered chitin in the cell walls of mushrooms and called it “fungine”. Chitin and chitosan are abundant in the biosphere as essential components of many organisms’ exoskeletons and as by-products of the global seafood industry. The biopolymer must be deacetylated before chitosan can be produced. It can also be extracted using microbes in a biological extraction procedure. The development of products that take advantage of the bioactivities of the existing primary commercial source of chitin (crustacean) has lagged expectations. Also, the disadvantages of the present commercial source such as seasonality and competition for other uses among others has been one of the driving forces towards seeking alternative sources of chitin and chitosan in nature. This review highlights some of the efforts made by environmental scholars to locate possible commercial sources of chitin and chitosan in nature over time.

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