Various properties of chitosan can be customized by thiolation for very specific needs in a wide range of application areas. Since the discovery of thiolated chitosans, many studies have proven their advantageous characteristics, such as adhesion to biological surfaces, adjustable cross-linking and swelling behavior, controllable drug release, permeation as well as cellular uptake enhancement, inhibition of efflux pumps and enzymes, complexation of metal ions, antioxidative properties, and radical scavenging activity. Simultaneously, these polymers remain biodegradable without increased toxicity. Within this Review, an overview about the different possibilities to covalently attach sulfhydryl ligands to the polymeric backbone of chitosan is given, and the resulting versatile physiochemical properties are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the broad spectrum of applications for thiolated chitosans in science and industry, ranging from their most advanced use in pharmaceutical and medical science over wastewater treatment to the impregnation of textiles, is addressed.

中文翻译：

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硫代壳聚糖：适用于各种应用的多才多艺的聚合物。

壳聚糖的各种特性可以通过硫醇化来定制，以满足广泛应用领域中非常特定的需求。自从发现硫醇化壳聚糖以来，许多研究证明了它们的有利特性，例如对生物表面的粘附，可调节的交联和溶胀行为，可控的药物释放，渗透以及细胞吸收增强，外排泵和酶的抑制，复合金属离子，抗氧化性能和自由基清除活性。同时，这些聚合物保持可生物降解而不增加毒性。在本综述中，概述了将巯基配体共价连接到壳聚糖聚合物主链上的不同可能性，并详细讨论了所得的多种理化性质。此外，