Hydrogen bonding plays a crucial but often underestimated role in determining the structure of alginate-based materials. Using molecular dynamics simulations, this study reveals how hydration and solvent environment influence the organization of neutral alginate at the molecular and mesoscale levels. The results show that hydration actively mediates hydrogen bonding, transforming alginate from rigid bundles into flexible, porous nanostructures. These insights deepen the understanding of solvent-driven self-assembly in alginate and provide valuable design principles for developing soft, bioinspired materials.
Vasilii Korotenko, Irina Smirnova and Pavel Gurikov (2026). Solvent-Mediated Self-Assembly and Hydrogen Bonding in Neutral Alginate: A Molecular Dynamics Study. Macromolecular Materials and Engineering 311 (1), e00299.
