Chemical modifications of polysaccharides

Polysaccharides are important class of naturally occurring polymers with varied applications in modern technology sphere. Though they are secreted by organisms spanning from plant to animal kingdom to offer structural support to the organisms, several functional roles of the polysaccharides can also be found in the nature. However, these polymers can be conveniently modified to introduce functional group of interest in the polysaccharide backbones. In many cases, these reactions are simple and can be easily controlled. Functional modification of polysaccharides has now assumed extremely important significance in carbohydrate chemistry. This chapter provides an overview of the common modification methods of polysaccharides and the major applications that can be targeted in food and biomedical industries by adopting chemical modification approaches.