20.500.12556/DiRROS-24308 Sustainable cyclodextrin modification and alginate incorporation: viscoelastic properties, release behavior, and morphology in bulk and microbead hydrogel systems Sustainable cyclodextrin modification and alginate incorporation Incorporating cyclodextrins (CDs) into ionically crosslinked polysaccharide matrices offers a promising strategy for developing well-defined, safe-by-design and biocompatible carrier systems with tunable rheological properties. In this study, β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) was functionalized with citric acid (CDC) and maleic anhydride (CDM) using solvent-free synthesis to improve compatibility with alginate hydrogels. The modified CDs were characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR, DLS, zeta potential, and MS, confirming successful esterification (4.0 and 3.4 –OH substitution for CDC and CDM, respectively) and stable aqueous dispersion. Rheological measurements showed that native CD accelerated gelation (within approximately 30 s), while CDC and CDM delayed crosslinking (by 2 to 13 min) and reduced gel strength, narrowing the linear viscoelastic range to 0.015–0.089% strain due to competition between polycarboxylated CDs and alginate chains for Ca2+ ions. Vibrational prilling produced alginate microbeads with diameters of 800–1000 µm and a simultaneous increase in size and CD concentration. Hydrogels demonstrated high CD retention (>80% after 28 h) and slightly greater release of CDC and CDM than native CD. Overall, solvent-free modification of CDs with citric and maleic acids provides a sustainable approach to tailoring the gelation kinetics, viscoelasticity, and release behavior of alginate-based hydrogels, offering a versatile, food- and health-compliant platform for controlled delivery of bioactive compounds. cyclodextrin alginate dry modification solvent-free hydrogels viscoelasticity rheometry microcarrier design ciklodekstrini alginat hidrogeli viskoelastične lastnosti reometrija true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Neznano 2025-11-25 13:10:47 2025-11-25 13:14:26 2025-11-26 03:52:44 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Soavtorji: Nejc Petek, Iztok Dogša, Andrijana Damjanović, Boštjan Genorio, Nataša Poklar Ulrih, Ilja Gasan Osojnik Črnivec; Opis vira z dne 5. 11. 2025; str. 1-25 issue 11, [article no.] 875 Vol. 11 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2025-01-01 577.1 2310-2861 10.3390/gels11110875 256029955 https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/11/11/875 1 c8c55d99-c9f7-11f0-94a7-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=36203 RAZ_Cic_Maja_2025.pdf RAZ_Cic_Maja_2025.pdf 1 B4D4D507253DEB9CFAF2B22250B1A020 91856371fff8336289523fe9c0bb336b94a7a30d5392a41a28365cbe32318d4e 193a113d-c9f8-11f0-94a7-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=36204 Kemijski inštitut 0 0 0