Grafting of Unsaturated Higher Fatty Acids to Chitosan in Aqueous Medium

Grafted amides with the degree of modification reaching 9% were prepared by the reaction of chitosan with unsaturated higher fatty acids in an acidified aqueous medium in the presence of a mixture of N-ethyl-N′-(dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride with N-hydroxysuccinimide. The products are insoluble in aqueous solutions of monobasic acids but swell in them to form hydrogels; the maximal degree of swelling is 1442%. The hydrogels show good biocompatibility and adhesion of multipotent stromal cells of bone marrow, which makes them promising for designing cell carrier scaffolds.