The zone is weakly hydrogen-bonded, fluid and reactive, and accumulates small cations, multivalent anions and hydrophobic solutes. It may well be that two carboxylate groups have to cooperate in prizing the bound water away from the calcium ions to form the salt links that make up the junction zones. The low potential of the water associated with the ion pairs will affect nearby water to encourage a leveling of the water potentials. However, it does form many single hydrogen bonds to water molecules. This hydrogen bonding is weak and destructuring with every carbohydrate hydroxyl groups acting as a donor, and preferably also as a double acceptor.
Polysaccharides are more hydrophobic if they have intra-molecular hydrogen bonds.
However, the fixed orientation of the doubly-linked water molecules may increase the hydrophobic extent of the carbohydrate's top and bottom surfaces and so aid the formation of junction zones. This is a cooperative process that may take some time. However, as the formation of junction zones is a co-operative process, it will be difficult to reverse. Water at a hydrophobic surface loses a hydrogen bond, therefore has increased enthalpy. Water covers the surface with clathrate-like pentagons in partial dodecahedra, so avoiding the loss of most of the hydrogen bonds.