Review accepted: “Patterns Matter - Part 2: Chitosan Oligomers with Defined Patterns of Acetylation”

Today, part 2 of our review on the pattern of acetylation of partially acetylated chitosans has been accepted for publication in a Special Issue on “Chitosan for the Future” of the journal Reactive and Functional Polymers in honor and memory of George A. F. Roberts and Kjell A. Vårum, two eminent chitosan researchers who passed away recently. We were asked to contribute to this issue, referring to how the work of these two colleagues has influenced our own thinking about chitosan. Prof. Moerschbacher and Dr. Nour Eddine El Gueddari, who also passed away recently, had both known George and especially Kjell well. Kjell had been a member of our first large European research project, CARAPAX, in which Nouri had worked as a postdoc in our group. We used this opportunity to compile all the work that they and we and others have done in trying to understand whether and how the pattern of acetylation influences the material properties and the biological activities of chitosans. George and Kjell had gone a long way in answering this question , and we are happy and proud that we have recently been able to take the next decisive step in this voyage. But we found that the topic was too diverse to be treated in a single review, and so we decided to split it into two parts. Part 1 is on chitosan polymers with non-random patterns of acetylation, and part 2 is on chitosan oligomers with defined patters of acetylation. Part 2 has now been accepted, part 1 was a bit delayed in being submitted, but we hope it will also be accepted soon. George and Kjell: we say thank you for the ideas you put into our heads and for the good times we had together. For us, these reviews are also a tribute to Nouri who has been a driving force in our own work for so long. But rather than dedicating the reviews to him, we thought it more appropriate to list him as a co-author – there are his thoughts as much as ours in it. Thank you, Nouri!