Update on modified chitosan frameworks and their applications for food, wastewater, toxic heavy metals, dyes treatment and cancer drug delivery

Nanotechnology is an established field of study that impacts nano-biomedicine and the treatment of diseases, malignancies, and inflammation. Several natural polysaccharides have been reported for the treatment of toxic heavy metal ions, dye, and drug delivery applications. Among them, chitosan (CS) is a natural cationic polysaccharide, which is obtained by the deacetylation of chitin. CS is extensively employed in numerous fields because it has a unique combination of characteristics, which include bioactivity, biocompatibility, mucoadhesion, and biodegradability, and is readily available at affordable prices. Much literature is available on CS, but its environmental application including removal of toxic heavy metals ion and dye, and cancer drug delivery-related applications have not been compiled. Hence, this review provides a summary of CS-based materials and their preparations, potential application in the food industry, wastewater treatment, toxic heavy metal ions removal, and drug delivery application in cancer therapy, which would increase awareness of the use of CS polysaccharides for the removal of influents from wastewater and explore the further development of CS-based materials for cancer drug delivery.