Delaying cluster growth of ionotropic induced alginate gelation by oligoguluronate

Alginates form gels in the presence of various divalent ions, such as Ca2+ that mediate lateral association of chain segments. Various procedures exist that introduce Ca2+ to yield alginate hydrogels with overall homogeneous or controlled gradients in the concentration profiles. In the present study, the effect of adding oligomers of α-l-guluronic acid (oligoGs) to gelling solutions of alginate was investigated by determination of the cluster growth stimulated by in situ release of Ca2+. Three different alginate samples varying in fraction of α-l-guluronic acid and molecular weights were employed. The cluster growth was determined for both pure alginates and alginates with two different concentrations of the oligoGs employing dynamic light scattering. The results show that addition of oligoG slows down the cluster growth, the more efficient for the alginates with higher fraction of α-l-guluronic acid, and the higher molecular weight. The efficiency in delaying and slowing the cluster growth induced by added oligoG were discussed in view of the molecular parameters of the alginates. These results show that oligoG can be added to alginate solutions to control the cluster growth and eventually also transition to the gel state. Quantitative relation between the concentration of added oligoG, type and molecular weight of the alginate, and concentration, can be employed as guidelines in tuning alginate cluster growth with specific properties.