Sulfated modification of polysaccharides: Synthesis, characterization and bioactivities

Polysaccharides are a kind of biological macromolecular substance with multiple biological effects. Natural polysaccharides derived from plants and fungi are known as ideal raw food supplements for health food and pharmaceuticals due to their few side effects. Sulfated modification could significantly improve structure characteristics, promote bioactivities, and even add new bioactivities to polysaccharides. Thus, sulfated polysaccharides are increasingly causing more attention, as they have been proved to possess a variety of biological activities, including antioxidant, anticancer, and immunoregulatory, and anticoagulant activities. Furthermore, recent advances in synthesis, characterization and bioactivities of sulfated polysaccharides can promote its application in the food industry or pharmaceutics. This paper reviewed the main methods of sulfated modification, structural changes and the bioactivities of sulfated polysaccharide derivatives. We have comprehensively discussed biological activities of sulfated polysaccharides, emphatically the effects of sulfated group, composition, functional groups, as well as their replaced position on the bioactivities of sulfated polysaccharides, in order to reveal the potential mechanism of sulfation on bioactivities of polysaccharides. This paper reviewed the recent research in the sulfated modification of polysaccharides and provided future directions for research in this area. There are many methods for sulfated modification, such as chlorosulfonic acid-pyridine method, concentrated sulfuric acid method, and sulfur trioxide-pyridine method, which could improve anti-coagulant, anti-oxidative, immunoregulation, anti-tumor, and anti-virus activities of polysaccharides. Sulfated modification could change bioactivities of polysaccharides due to their effects on structure characteristics. DS, monosaccharide compositions, replaced position of sulfated groups were considered to contribute to their bioactivities promotion. Further studies are required to explore the application of sulfated polysaccharides in pharmaceutical and food industries.