Abstract:In this paper，heteroxylans（HX）were isolated from the vitreous and floury endosperms of maize grains，respectively. Through the determination and analysis of morphological particle size，physicochemical properties，structural characterization，and enzymatic hydrolysis properties，the structural characterization of HX in different maize endosperms was studied，and the mechanism of cell wall in degrading enzymes during maize enzymatic hydrolysis was revealed.Structural analysis showed that the main chain of HX only contained a small amount of unsubstituted xylose residues（＜9%），indicating that the content of both side chains was high.Compared with HX in the vitreous endosperm，HX in the floury endosperm contained more arabinose and galactose.The monobasic substitution rate of HX in the vitreous endosperm was higher（15%）.The content of uronic acid in the two components was basically the same.Galactose of HX in the floury endosperm existed only in the terminal position. The material content of xylanase preparations isolated from the cell wall of the floury endosperm（40.8%）was higher than that of the vitreous endosperm（15.5%）.The result was possibly due to the structural differences between the two components，or influenced by the structure on the interaction of the components with other cell wall polysaccharides.