Specific enzymatic tailoring of wheat arabinoxylan reveals the role of substitution on xylan film properties

To increase understanding of the applicability of agro biomass by-products as biodegradable film formers, the effect of wheat arabinoxylan (WAX) fine structure on film properties was studied by applying specific enzyme modifications. WAX was selectively modified to mimic the natural variations of different arabinoxylans, particularly the degree of mono and disubstitution of α-l-arabinofuranosyl (Araf) units in β-d-xylopyranosyl (Xylp) backbone residues. The resulting modified WAX samples had similar arabinose-to-xylose (Ara/Xyl) ratios, but they differed in the number of unsubstituted Xylp units. The substitution of WAX was found to affect, in particular, tensile strength, crystallinity, and oxygen permeability properties of the films, as statistically significant decreases in tensile strength and oxygen permeability took place after WAX de-branching. An increase in the number of unsubstituted Xylp units decreased the temperature of relaxation of small-scale molecular motions of WAX (β-relaxation) and increased the degree of crystallinity of the films.