The objective of this study was to investigate the changes of component

surface morphology

functional groups

and crystallinity of corn stalk before and after depolymerization with NaOH. The results showed that H-lignin was mainly constitutional unit of lignin in corn stalk. The phenolic compounds in liquid of the depolymerized corn stalk were 4- hydroxybenzaldehyde

vanilline

lilac aldehyde

p-coumaric acid

and ferulic acid. After alkali depolymerization

the surface morphology of corn stalk became loose and porous

the characteristic absorption peak of lignin disappeared in infrared spectroscopy

about 85% of lignin and 52% of hemicellulose were removed and thereby resulted in the increase of relative content and crystallinity of cellulose. These results may be beneficial to further enzymolysis and/or other biochemical methods for high value transformation of straw fiber.