Carboxyl-functionalized derivatives of carboxymethyl cellulose: towards advanced biomedical applications

Abstract

Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) has attracted considerable scientific attention, thanks to its enhanced water solubility and wide range of possible chemical reactions. In the present review, we attempt to summarize the current knowledge on chemical modifications of CMC, focusing specifically on the derivatization of its carboxyl functions, through “grafting onto” strategies. CMC derivatives, obtained by grafting of small molecules and/or polymers, can be engineered as peculiar assembled architectures (e.g., conjugates, nanoparticles, hydrogels), particularly suitable for the development of drug delivery systems or scaffolds for tissue engineering. The potential of the resulting CMC derivatives in biomedical applications is, therefore, discussed in detail.

Keywords:

• Carboxymethyl cellulose
• chemical grafting
• drug delivery
• tissue engineering
• biomedical

Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge Solvay Company for its support in the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) in France as part of the project PLACELMAT (Grant number: ANR-14-CE07-0018-03).