Evaluation of a novel phosphorylated corn straw xylan for enhancement of thermal stability, crystallinity and functional activity

Summary The present study focussed on a novel phosphorylated corn straw xylans (XYCS‐P) that had excellent thermal stability, crystallinity and functional activity and could be potentially used as functional agents in food products. In this work, the phosphorylated derivative XYCS‐P was successfully prepared, and the chemical characterisation, spectral analysis, thermal analysis, morphology analysis, antioxidant capacity and anticancer activity were evaluated. The results indicated that XYCS‐P possessed superior thermal stability to the native corn straw xylans (XYCS) when exposed to the high temperature (above 240 °C). In addition, the crystallinity of XYCS‐P was better than that of XYCS. Moreover, for XYCS‐P, the scavenging activity of the hydroxyl radical, (1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl) DPPH radical, superoxide anion radical and the ferric ion reducing antioxidant power were significantly stronger than that of XYCS ( P < 0.01). Besides, XYCS‐P exhibited a remarkable inhibition effect for HepG2 cells, and the IC 50 value of XYCS‐P was determined to be 335.91 μg mL −1 ( P < 0.05).