Hemicellulose from Plant Biomass in Medical and Pharmaceutical Application: A Critical Review

Abstract

Hemicellulose is the second most abundant plant polysaccharides after cellulose. Due to the non-toxicity, abundance and biodegradability, recently more and more attention has been focused on the exploration of hemicellulose as the potential substrate for the production of liquid fuels and other value-added chemicals and materials in different fields. Especially in the pharmaceutical and medical field, hemicellulose currently has aroused growing concern in immune regulation, bacteria inhibition, drug release, anti-caries, scaffold materials and anti-tumor because of its unique special physiological characteristics including biocompatibility, inhibiting cell mutation and anti-cancer effect, etc. In this paper, we introduce the application of nature hemicellulose, its degradation products, its derivatives and hemicellulose-based materials in the medical field. Their properties and use effects are also discussed in detail. Moreover, the extraction technologies of nature hemicelluloses, the preparation of hemicellulose-derived products are reviewed here briefly. The recent trends and perspectives of future development are highlighted.

Emulsifying Properties of Hemicelluloses

“…Xylans are heteropolymers having a β- (1,4) linked backbone made of D-xylose. They are the major hemicelluloses in hardwood.…”

“…The suitability of a substance for use as an emulsifying agent (like other pharmaceutical excipients) depends on its ready availability, biodegradability and safety. Hemicelluloses like other polysaccharides are readily available, biodegradable and are nontoxic [4]. Therefore, they can be studied for emulsifying properties.…”

“…Hemicelluloses have high potentials as pharmaceutical polymers. However, the physical chemistry and exploration of this group of plant polymers have not been adequately attended to until recently [4]. This chapter focuses on the emulsifying properties of these promising but neglected pharmaceutical polymers.…”

Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenolysis Reactions for Lignin Valorization to Fuels and Chemicals

“…The isolated fractions in the form of carbohydrate or phenolic biopolymers of varying molecular weight, functionality, particle size and other physicochemical characteristics, can be utilized as such in polymer composites, pharmaceutical formulations, etc. [18][19][20] Furthermore, the downstream selective depolymerization of these biopolymers to their primary building units, i.e., glucose, xylose, alkoxy-phenols, etc., and their consequent transformation to a wide variety of platform chemicals and eventually to final products, may offer even higher value to biomass valorization, via the "biorefinery" concept. Pyrolysis and hydrogenolysis/hydrogenation [21][22][23][24] represent probably the most studied thermochemical biomass (or its components) depolymerization processes towards the production of valuable compounds with a potential in fuels, chemicals and polymers industry [23,25,26].…”

Insights into Adsorption Characterization of Sulfated Xylans onto Poly(ethylene terephthalate)

“…Hemicelluloses are found as organic wastes or by-products of renewable forest and agricultural products, however, unlike cellulose, they have not yet found broad industrial application [20,21]. The development of new, high-added value products made of hemicelluloses are, therefore, extremely stimulating.In recent decades, great interest has been pointed toward xylans as renewable polymers in food [22,23], medical [24,25] and pharmaceutical applications [26,27]. Recently, a wide study of sulfation procedures for xylans from different sources was performed, and broad structural varieties of xylan sulfates were obtained and their structure analyzed [15,28,29].…”