Rheological, water uptake and controlled release properties of a novel self-gelling aldehyde functionalized chitosan

► We prepared a new self-gelling aldehyde-functionalized chitosan that can form gels without the addition of crosslinking agents. ► The highly porous self-crosslinked gels allowed for more than 400% of water uptake. ► The rheological properties of these gels were directly influenced by the concentration of the aldehyde-functionalized chitosan. ► The gels were able to release molecules with different sizes following a near zero-order profile. ► The increase in the crosslinking density in these gels at higher pH retarded the drug release.