Abstract The quaternary ammonium salts of chitosan are water soluble derivatives which keep the promise for real life applications in a large realm of biomedical fields, such as antimicrobial products, gene therapy, drug delivery, wound healing, tissue engineering and cosmetics. The increased potential for such applications is gained by a beneficial combination of the intrinsic properties of chitosan with those of the quaternary ammonium units. Since the first report of the synthesis of the quaternary ammonium salts of chitosan, many synthetic routes were developed, each of them with advantages and disadvantages which influence the product’s properties. The aim of this review was to systemize these synthetic procedures and the properties of the resulted products, highlighting these advantages and disadvantages, in the desire to help the researchers working in this productive domain to choose the most suitable synthetic pathway when specific properties are targeted.

中文翻译：

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壳聚糖的季铵盐。季铵化产生的合成和性质的重要概述

摘要 壳聚糖的季铵盐是水溶性衍生物，有望在生物医学领域的广泛领域中应用于现实生活，如抗菌产品、基因治疗、药物输送、伤口愈合、组织工程和化妆品。通过将壳聚糖的内在特性与季铵单元的内在特性进行有益组合，可以获得此类应用的更大潜力。自首次报道壳聚糖季铵盐的合成以来，开发了许多合成路线，每条路线都有影响产品性能的优缺点。本次审查的目的是将这些合成程序和所得产品的特性系统化，突出这些优点和缺点，