Polysaccharide-based hybrid materials for molecular release applications

Controlled molecular delivery has attracted particular interest in the past few decades to improve the therapeutic efficacy of drugs. To improve the interface between drug and polymer carrier, it is possible to protect the drug form against oxidation, degradation, thus enhancing drug-release kinetics form as a function of the specific administration mode (i.e., parenteral, oral, etc.). In recent years, organic/inorganic hybrid materials have attracted tremendous interest due to their improved chemical, physical, and biological properties compared to homogeneous materials. For this purpose, novel processing techniques are emerging to develop different hybrid materials for the use in different biomedical fields. In this chapter, an overview of different inorganic phases that can be successfully combined with polysaccharides to design innovative hybrid materials is proposed. After a brief classification of different polysaccharide typologies, an accurate description of inorganic compounds (i.e., calcium carbonates/phosphates, oxides, graphene, and carbon nanotubes) in order to obtain smart devices for application in tissue engineering and drug release.