Preparation and characterization of ethanol‐induced chitosan‐glutaric anhydride hydrogel for biomedical applications

Abstract Here we report a novel, fast, and facile sythesis of chitosan‐based hydrogels by ethanol directly inducing. In the present of ethanol, chitosan (CS) with glutaric anhydride (GA) could form hydrogels (CS‐GA‐Hs) just in few minutes. The results of 1 H NMR and FTIR confirmed N‐acylation substitution of chitosan. Furthermore, the relative concentration of GA was also the critical parameter for formation and properties of CS‐GA‐Hs. When the concentration was 1.5, CS‐GA‐Hs showed the highest swelling (253.6%) and release degree (99.9%). The porous structure of CS‐GA‐Hs were observed by SEM and the pore size of the gels decreased from 500 to 200 μm, when the relative concentration of GA was changed from 1.5 to 4. And all the hydrogels were demonstrated a good mechanical properties. Additionally, the CS‐GA‐Hs showed in vitro antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli , and no cytotoxicity toward L929 mouse fibroblasts, meaning it has potential applications in biomedical fields.