Chitin is an abundant natural nitrogen-containing biopolymer with great application potential in materials, environment, energy, and health. However, the structure characteristics and processing technologies have required intense research in related applications. In particular, there have been great efforts to developing solvents for chitin, and the results so far are quite encouraging. This review summarizes the main solvent systems used for chitin, namely the aqueous solvent systems (mineral acids, inorganic salt aqueous solutions, alkali aqueous solutions) and non-aqueous ones (LiCl-dimethylacetamide solvents, CaCl₂·2H₂O saturated methanol, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, and protic organic solvents). The solvent properties, dissolution methods, and solution properties are discussed in detail. Special attention is paid to the dissolution mechanism in each system. This review can provide a reference for understanding the dissolution behavior of chitin and finding suitable solvents for it.

几丁质是一种丰富的天然含氮生物聚合物，在材料，环境，能源和健康方面具有巨大的应用潜力。然而，结构特征和加工技术需要在相关应用中进行深入研究。特别地，已经为开发用于几丁质的溶剂付出了巨大的努力，并且迄今为止的结果是令人鼓舞的。这篇综述总结了用于几丁质的主要溶剂体系，即水性溶剂体系（无机酸，无机盐水溶液，碱性水溶液）和非水性溶剂体系（LiCl-二甲基乙酰胺溶剂，CaCl ₂ ·2H _2）O饱和甲醇，离子液体，深共熔溶剂和质子有机溶剂）。详细讨论了溶剂性质，溶解方法和溶液性质。要特别注意每个系统中的溶解机制。这篇综述可以为理解几丁质的溶解行为和寻找合适的溶剂提供参考。