海藻酸盐（Alg）聚合物由于凝胶形成所需的温和条件及其良好的生物可接受性而受到广泛关注。然而，由于与细胞、许多药物和生物分子的相互作用有限，化学修饰的藻酸盐引起了人们的极大兴趣。硫酸化海藻酸盐 (S-Alg) 是一种很有前途的肝素模拟物，作为药物分子和生物材料的组成部分，其研究仍在继续。本文对过去五年（2017-2023）的S-Alg文献进行综述。描述了用于合成 S-Alg 的几种方法，重点是表征和立体选择性方面的新进展。材料制造是另一个焦点，涵盖散装材料、颗粒、支架、涂层和多组分生物材料的一部分。重点介绍了 S-Alg 作为抗肿瘤剂的新应用以及评估安全性和生物分布的研究。 S-Alg 对各种药物和肝素结合蛋白的高结合亲和力在生物材料设计中被广泛利用，以调节这些药物的封装和释放，并且详细介绍了这方面。建议包括发布关键材料特性以实现可重复性、仔细选择适当的硫酸盐化策略、在材料制造中使用离子交联以外的交联策略，以及为未来的工作提供更详细的毒性和生物分布研究。© 2024 作者（s）。高分子生物科学由 Wiley‐VCH GmbH 出版。

Alginate (Alg) polymers have received much attention due to the mild conditions required for gel formation and their good bio-acceptability. However, due to limited interactions with cells, many drugs, and biomolecules, chemically modified alginates are of great interest. Sulfated alginate (S-Alg) is a promising heparin-mimetic that continues to be investigated both as a drug molecule and as a component of biomaterials. Herein, the S-Alg literature of the past five years (2017-2023) is reviewed. Several methods used to synthesize S-Alg are described, with a focus on new advances in characterization and stereoselectivity. Material fabrication is another focus and spans bulk materials, particles, scaffolds, coatings, and part of multicomponent biomaterials. The new application of S-Alg as an antitumor agent is highlighted together with studies evaluating safety and biodistribution. The high binding affinity of S-Alg for various drugs and heparin-binding proteins is exploited extensively in biomaterial design to tune the encapsulation and release of these agents and this aspect is covered in detail. Recommondations include publishing key material properties to allow reproducibility, careful selection of appropriate sulfation strategies, the use of cross-linking strategies other than ionic cross-linking for material fabrication, and more detailed toxicity and biodistribution studies to inform future work.© 2024 The Author(s). Macromolecular Bioscience published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.