Alginate Modification and Lectin-Conjugation Approach to Synthesize the Mucoadhesive Matrix
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Alginates are among the most studied natural polymers, widely used in various fields. The proposed review discusses in details the different approaches for modifying the polymer structure in order to optimize its characteristics and expand its applications. I suggest the article to be considered for publication after addressing the following recommendations:
- According to the title of the article and the formulated aim, the focus of the review is on the mucoadhesive properties of alginate and the enhancement of these properties by modification of the polymer structure / conjugation with lectin. Nevertheless, there is almost no discussion about mucoadhesion in the manuscript. In the Introduction section the authors should explain in more details what is mucoadhesion, why this property is important for a polymer carrier, respectively, the arguments for finding approaches to improve it. Additionally in section 2. Alginate Structure and Properties I suggest the authors to add subsection 2.3. Mucoadhesive properties of alginates.
- The following sentences should be revised in terms of spelling and grammar: Lines 93-94; Lines 142-143; Lines 190-191; Line 225; Lines 299-301; Lines 340-343; Lines 457- 459.
- The information is presented in present tense, but past tense is also used (Line 460; Lines 510-512; Line 524). It should be unified.
- References should to be included supporting some of the information provided: Line 43; Line 97; Line 173; Line 188.
- In the title of Figure 3: what do you mean by “The red circle is for a molecule with a carboxylic acid group, and the blue circle is the peptide model molecule.”?
- Can you explain the statement in Lines 311-312 “It could increase clofazimine and Amphotericin B apparent water solubilities maximum by the factor of ten”.
- There are references for some of the figures. Are these figures taken from open access journals (do they require copyright permission)?
- The format of Table 1 is different from the template of the journal.
- Section 5 is entitled “Case study: Lectin-ADA conjugation”. I suggest the section to be renamed only as “Lectin-ADA conjugation”.
- In most of the references the full journal name is provided. According to MDPI’s requirements the abbreviated journal name should be used.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors have made a very nice review of the chemical modifications of alginates in order to obtain materials with more advanced properties. They paid special attention to the conjugation reactions of lectins and alginates and presented in a very clear way the possibilities provided by this conjugate and how we can obtain it.
The manuscript meets the criteria to be published in this journal but nevertheless, it could be improved with some minor changes.
At first, you need some Figure optimization. The chemical structures shown in the Figures are not in the same style, please choose one style to present them all. In Figure 3 there are no circles from a description. In Figure 4 you are writing about the mechanism but you presented only the final crosslinked product here.
Line 187- addition of hydrophobic moieties could not enhance the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs. Please rephrase the sentence.
Line 391- The name of this transformation is reductive amination, not reduction amination. You also put that in the description of Figure 7.
For some sentences, the source is not clearly stated. Consider adding references in the following sentences:
Line 43, line 89, line 120, line 193, line 202.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer 2
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
