Honey-Stabilized Alginate Nanoparticles Derived from Sargassum: Synthesis, Physicochemical Characterization and Colloidal Stability

Massive pelagic Sargassum influxes along Caribbean coasts have created an urgent need for valorization routes for this biomass. Here, sodium alginate was extracted from Sargassum fluitans collected at Chuburná Beach, Yucatán, Mexico, using a multistep extraction involving 0.2% formaldehyde pretreatment at 4 °C and brief heating at 65–70 °C, and subsequently used to prepare calcium-crosslinked alginate nanoparticles by ionotropic gelation. To our knowledge, this is the first direct synthesis of alginate nanoparticles from non-commercial alginate extracted from pelagic S. fluitans. An extraction yield of 18.7 ± 0.05% (mean ± SD, n = 3) was obtained, and UV–Vis, FTIR, and NMR analyses confirmed the characteristic structural features of alginate. 1H NMR revealed an M-rich composition (F_M = 0.61, F_G = 0.39; M/G = 1.54) with short guluronate blocks (N_G>1 = 2.42), whereas 13C NMR corroborated the presence of both β-D-mannuronic and α-L-guluronic acid residues. SEM images showed predominantly spherical-to-subspherical nanoparticles with representative dry diameters of 233–269 nm, whereas DLS measurements at 0, 24, and 72 h revealed a dominant volume-based nanoscale population with main peaks at 12.75–15.31 nm and PDI values of 0.229–0.291, indicating reasonable short-term colloidal stability at room temperature. These results demonstrate that pelagic S. fluitans can serve as a viable feedstock for the production of structurally preserved alginate and calcium-crosslinked alginate nanoparticles. The study supports converting recurrent Sargassum biomass into higher-value polysaccharide-based materials and provides a basis for future application-specific evaluation of these nanomaterials.