Alginate is an anionic polymer and on the other hand Rhodamine B is a cationic dye. Theoretically these two should be boned by ionic bond. Does it happen? More suggestions and experience are greatly appreciated. Advanced thanks!!
Dear Md. Sohanur Rahaman, alginate is a has strong complexing and ion exchange substrate. However, since it is rich in carboxylic acid group (weak function), its dissociation is pH dependent. So, it id worth to consider this fact in addition to a possible effect on the stability of Rhodamine B under conditons of variable pH. My Regards
I would have to pull up the data to see if we used alginate - we definitely made dye containing gels of Rhodamine WT with Calcium 2+ cross linked carrageenan a few years back.
The dye slowly washes out if you flow water across the gels (we were exploring using it as a controlled release agent).
So I don't think the ion pairing with a monocationic dye salt is sufficient. A dication may be a different story.
Thank you so much Abdelkader BOUAZIZ and James E Hanson for your answers. According to you, Rhodamine B can not form stable complex with alginate without cross linker. So I need a cross linker to form a stable complex for labeling the polymer. Would you please suggest me a good cross linker for tagging alginate with Rhodamine B. Thanks.