Wide-pore cryostructurates were prepared via freezing sodium alginate aqueous solutions with subsequent ice sublimation from the frozen samples, followed by their incubation in the ethanol solutions of calcium chloride or sulfuric acid, rinsing, and final drying. Such sequence of operations resulted in the calcium alginate or alginic acid sponges, respectively. The swelling degree of the walls of macropores in such matrices decreased with increasing polymer concentration in the initial solution. The dependence of the degree of swelling on the cryogenic processing temperature had a bell-like character with a maximum for the samples formed at -20 °C. According to 1H NMR spectroscopy, the content of mobile (non-frozen) water in the frozen water-sodium alginate systems also depended on the initial polymer concentration and freezing temperature. The cryostructurates obtained did not lose their integrity in water, saline, in an acidic medium at pH 2 for at least three weeks. Under alkaline conditions at pH 12 the first signs of dissolution of the Ca-alginate sponge arose only after a week of incubation. Microbiological testing of the model depot form of the antibiotics entrapped in the Ca-alginate cryostructurate demonstrated the efficiency of this system as the antibacterial material.
Keywords: alginic acid; antibacterial material; calcium alginate; cryostructurates; freeze-drying; microstructure; sodium alginate; swelling characteristics.