Chemical structure and polymer properties of wheat and cabbage lignins – valuable biopolymers for biomedical applications

ABSTRACT This article presents the features of macromolecular structure of lignins of wheat and cabbage, as well as the relations of lignin structure with practically important properties. The methods of sedimentation-diffusion analysis and capillary viscometry were used to study the hydrodynamic properties of macromolecules in solutions and to reveal the features of topological structure. Molecular mass of the fractions, radii of macromolecules and hydrodynamic invariants were determined. The analysis of the scaling dependences within the framework of Mark-Kuhn-Houwink equation was performed. The molecular hydrodynamic methods showed that wheat lignin is a linear polymer, whereas cabbage lignin is a chaotically weakly branched polymer. These lignins had a high adsorption capacity for various mycotoxins, including mycotoxin T-2. The influence of conformational properties and topology of macromolecules on the mycotoxin T-2 adsorption-desorption characteristics was established. A significant content of phenolic hydroxyl groups provides the high antioxidant activity of cabbage and wheat lignins. Natural lignins from food crops have a significant biomedical potential for creation of new multifunctional drugs with a wide spectrum of activity.