Single-stranded structure of alginate and its conformation evolvement after an interaction with calcium ions as revealed by electron microscopy

Abstract

The single-stranded structure of alginate and its conformations of the egg-box junctions after binding with Ca²⁺ ions were visualized for the first time by electron microscopy. The exaggerated egg-box junctions of the calcium alginate assembly consisted of four repeating units, each of which comprised three Ca²⁺-linked G-block pairs and one M-block pair.