Chemical modification and antioxidant activities of polysaccharide from mushroom Inonotus obliquus.

Chemical modification polysaccharides exerted potent biological property which was related to the physicochemical properties. In the present study, polysaccharides from Inonotus obliquus were modified by suflation, acetylation and carboxymethylation. The physicochemical and antioxidant properties of I. obliquus polysaccharide (IOPS) and its derivatives were comparatively investigated by chemical methods, gas chromatography, size exclusion chromatography, scanning electron micrograph, infrared spectra and circular dichroism spectra, and ferric reducing power assay and lipid peroxidation inhibition assay, respectively. Results showed that physicochemical and antioxidant properties of IOPS were differed each other after the chemical modification of suflation, acetylation and carboxymethylation. Among the three derivatives, acetylationed polysaccharide (Ac-IOPS) resulted in lower molecular weight distribution, lower intrinsic viscosity, a hyperbranched conformation, higher antioxidant abilities on ferric-reducing power and lipid peroxidation inhibition activity compared with the native polysaccharide IOPS. Ac-IOPS might be explored as a novel potential antioxidant for human consumption.