Chemical Composition of Larch Oleoresin before and during Thermal Modification

Abstract

Larch is a strong timber, which grows rapidly in the UK climate, but can contain abundant resin pockets. To address the resin exudation issue, a mild thermal modification process has been developed, promoting the curing of the resin. This paper reports a series of studies which characterised the chemical profile of larch oleoresin before and after the mild thermal treatment, explaining the changes which occur when resin is dried. Further experiments were used to simulate specific points in time during the mild treatment process. The non-polar components of the fresh (untreated) and treated larch oleoresin were profiled using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Fresh larch oleoresin was also subjected to isothermal experiments at different temperatures in a thermogravimetric analyser–differential scanning calorimeter (TGA/DSC), followed by re-analysing the resin composition. This demonstrated the loss of monoterpenes at temperatures of 120 °C and above, with complete loss by isothermal conditions of 150 °C and 60 min. The partial loss of sesquiterpene alkanes and alkenes were also observed at all temperatures, although completeness of this loss was achieved at isothermal temperatures of 150 °C and above. The diterpene composition was seen to change for isothermal experiments conducted at 150 °C and above, with a dehydration of terpenols to form the equivalent terpene alkenes. The observed physical changes in the TGA/DSC experiment were in good agreement with observations of the oleoresin sampled from thermally modified larch planks.