Periodate oxidation of xylan-based hemicelluloses and its effect on their thermal properties

Hemicellulose from pulp mill process water and crop residuals from food production often end up in waste streams or burnt for energy contribution. These waste products contain valuable biopolymers but lack many attributes needed for use in applications such as food and medical or consumer products. This study reports on an investigation of the periodate oxidation of hardwood xylan and arabinoxylan (AX) from wheat bran to produce materials with new functionalities. The study explores how to control the oxidation degree and describes structural differences between the two xylan-based polymers. For the xylan samples, the oxidation resulted in a lowering of the glass transition temperature (T_g), indicating a more flexible chain due to ring-opening of the xylan anhydro-sugar units. For the AX samples, the arabinose side-groups were instead oxidized, hindering oxidation on part of the xylose units, which resulted in a crosslinked network with an unchanged T_g but reduced intrinsic viscosity.