Photodynamic antifungal therapy is a promising treatment for increasing drug-resistant fungi. However, low physiological solubility and low fungi-affinity of most potential photosensitizers limits their therapeutic efficacy. To improve the water-solubility and photodynamic antifungal activity of zinc(II) phthalocyanine, two molecular-weight carboxymethyl chitosans (CMC1,50 kDa; CMC2,170 kDa) were herein respectively conjugated with 1-[4-(2-aminoethyl)phenoxy] zinc(II) phthalocyanine (ZnPcN) and further quaternized, and eight novel conjugates were obtained and characterized. Their photophysical and photochemical properties, cellular uptakes and in vitro photodynamic antifungal activities against Candida albicans have also been investigated. All the conjugates are less aggregated in water than ZnPcN. The low-molecular-weight CMC1-conjugated ZnPcN is more readily ingested and highly photoactive. Mainly due to its highest uptake by Candida cells, a conjugate of CMC1 and ZnPcN shows the highest photocytotoxicity with an IC90 value down to 0.72 μM. Further quaternization decreases the photocytotoxicity. Additionally, the conjugates show special affinity to the mitochondria of C. albicans. A highly efficient metal-based nanocatalyst was developed by stabilization of palladium nanoparticles on magnetically retrievable phosphine-functionalized cellulose (Fe3O4@PFC-Pd(0)). The synthesized nanocatalyst was characterized by various techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, EDX, UV-vis, ICP, TGA, BET and VSM. Moreover, to investigate the metal-ligand interactions present in the nanocatalyst, covalent and electrostatic interactions, density functional theory (DFT) and quantum theory of atoms in molecule (QTAIM) methods were employed. The catalytic efficacy of the nanoparticles was evaluated in Sonogashira and Suzuki coupling reactions in basic deep eutectic mixture, as a sustainable solvent. Due to the cooperative interactions of primary hydroxyl group of cellulose, phosphorus atom and phenyl ring of phosphine moiety with Pd atom, the nanocatalyst exhibits high activity and stability. The nanocatalyst can be easily recycled and reused at least five times without an appreciable loss of activity. Also, the other merits including short reaction times, short synthetic route to prepare catalyst, trace metal leaching to the reaction medium, cost-effective and eco-friendly conditions can be mentioned for the present approach. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) based novel functional films containing Chinese chives root extract (CRE) at different concentrations (1, 3 and 5 % in w/w) were successfully fabricated. It was revealed by SEM that higher extract concentration triggered the formation of agglomerates within the film. Tensile strength of the films was decreased from 30.91 to 16.48 MPa. Thickness of films was increased from 43 to 84 μm, while decrease in water solubility from 77.51-52.91 %, swelling degree from 55.74 to 40.37 %, and water vapor permeability from 5.76 to 1.17 10-10 gm-1s-1 Pa-1 was observed. DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging ability of CMC-CRE films was increased from 0 to 58 % and 82 %, respectively. CMC-CRE5 film showed the highest biodegradability of 58.14 %. The film prepared by the addition of CRE into CMC also exhibited good antioxidant and antimicrobial activity indicating that it could be developed as a bio-composite food packaging material for the food industry. Atomistic modelling of cellulose has widely been investigated for years using molecular dynamics simulations. In this paper, we model Iβ crystalline cellulose as well as develop a model including dislocations in between the crystal regions. The model including dislocations shows a tensile modulus of 109 GPa, 25% lower than that of the fully crystalline model (146 GPa). The change in dihedral angle preferences is analysed, and its effect on hydrogen bonding pattern is assessed. How presence of hydrogen bonds contributes to elastic properties of cellulose nano-fibrils is shown. Effect of water on the elastic modulus of fibrils is also investigated. Moreover, an illustration is given of how the tensile behaviour of fibrils is controlled by a synergy between the geometry changes occurring at the glycosidic linkage, reflected by specific torsional and glycosidic angles. These findings can be useful in further modelling of cellulosic fibrils at the atomistic and coarse-grained scales. To investigate and compare the preliminary structural characteristics and biological activity in vitro of polysaccharides from Sagittaria sagittifolia L. selleck chemical (SSs) by different extration methods, three polysaccharides (SSW, SSU, and SSP) were obtained with hot water, ultrasound-assisted, and subcritical water extraction. Their structural features were elucidated using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Gas Chromatography (GC), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Infrared Spectroscopy (IR), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Zeta Potential and Congo red methods. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity and immunostimulatory effects were investigated in vitro. Molecular weight and monosaccharide composition analysis exhibited that SSW (2275.0 kDa), SSU (148.7 kDa), and SSP (1984.0 kDa) were heteropolysaccharide with dramatically different monosaccharide species and mole ratios. In addition, SSP exhibited stronger antioxidant activity in vitro and more potent immunomodulatory activity than SSW and SSU. SSP has greater potential to be explored as biologicalagents for use in complementary medicine or functional foods. Solvent-free protocols using microwave-assisted heating (i) or conventional heating without additives (ii) or adding K2CO3 (iii), or triturating at room temperature in the presence of K2CO3 (iv) were first used to esterify glycosaminoglycans (GAG) with maleic anhydride. High and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid (HMW and LMW HA), dermatan sulfate (Ds), heparin (HEP) and C6-oxidized HA (carboxy-HA) were used as substrates for maleation. Protocols (i)-(iii) were most effective for obtaining maleates with high DS (1.39-2.47), but had a strong degrading effect on GAG. Protocol (iv) did not have destructive effect, but was suitable for obtaining only HMW HA maleate (DS 0.71-1.15). Primary hydroxyl groups of HA and Ds showed a higher reactivity compared to the secondary ones. A specific feature of the HEP maleation was substitution of N-sulfate groups for N-maleate groups. To demonstrate the potential of the obtained maleates for thiol-ene click-chemical strategies, the reaction with l-cysteine was performed.