The influence of the chirality of chitosan ascorbate on the gelation kinetics and the properties of hybrid silicon-chitosan-containing glycerohydrogels were studied with a deep estimation of the stereospecificity of chitosan polysalts with l- and d-ascorbic acid diastereomers and their biological effects. It has been established that l- and d-diastereomerically enriched chitosan ascorbates are characterized by a positive Cotton effect and differ in the wavelength of the maximum of the dichroic band (250 and 240 nm), as well as in the values of its specific ellipticity (21.8 × 10⁵ and 39.2 × 10⁵ deg·mL·dm⁻¹·g⁻¹), the sign of specific optical rotation (+ and −), the type of dispersion curves (anomalous and smooth), as well as the condensed phase morphology (anisodiametric particles with optical anisotropy and confocal domains of spherical shape, respectively). In the biomimetic sol-gel synthesis of silicon-chitosan-containing glycerohydrogels using silicon tetraglycerolate as a precursor, it was found that chitosan d-ascorbate retarded gelation. Thin congruent plates obtained from the corresponding glycerohydrogels based on chitosan d-ascorbate have higher mechanical strength and elasticity under uniaxial stretching and lower values of Young’s modulus. It has been shown that the systems based on chitosan d-ascorbate show the greatest antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus 209P and Escherichia coli 113-13 and significantly promote the viability of normal human dermal fibroblasts. The results of our assessment of the biological properties of chitosan polysalts are unexpected, since ascorbic acid exhibits biological activity as its l-isomer only.

An in vivo study of the healing properties of the glycerohydrogel plates based on L- and D-ascorbate chitosan, Aloe vera juice, and silicon tetraglycerolate in the treatment of a cut wound in male albino rats was carried out. It was found that the use of the plates statistically significantly increased the rate of decrease in the area of the wound surface and the rate of wound healing and reduced the period of skin restoration as compared with the control. The highest rate of regeneration was observed under plates with chitosan D-ascorbate, which confirmed the previously discovered effect of homochirality of chitosan salts on the biological functionality of its materials. Glycerohydrogel plates based on D-ascorbate chitosan are highly effective wound dressings and are economically feasible due to the lower cost of the D isomer of ascorbic acid.