title: Quantitative 31P NMR analysis of solid wood offers an insight into the acetylation of its components.
abstract: As a solid substrate, wood and its components are almost invariably examined via spectroscopic or indirect methods of analysis. Unlike earlier approaches, in this effort we dissolve pulverized wood in ionic liquid and then directly derive its functional group contents by quantitative (31)P NMR. As such, this novel analytical methodology is thoroughly examined and an insight into the detailed way acetylation proceeds on solid wood and its components is provided as a function of wood density and within its various anatomical features. As anticipated, the efficiency of acetylation was found to be greater within low density wood than in high density wood. The lignin, the cellulose and the hemicelluloses of the low density wood was found to be acetylated nearly twice as fast with remarkable differences in their quantitative degree of acetylation amongst them. This direct analytical data validates the applied methodology and confirms, for the first time, that the order of acetylation in solid wood is lignin>hemicellulose>cellulose and no reactivity differences exist between early wood and late wood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Biomaterials, Organic Chemistry of Wood Components Laboratory, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, United States; Department of Chemistry, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Mazandaran, Iran. Electronic address: hsadegh@ncsu.edu.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sadeghifar
authors.affiliation: Eastman Chemical Company, Kingsport, TN, United States. Electronic address: jpd@eastman.com.
authors.forename: James P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Dickerson
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Biomaterials, Organic Chemistry of Wood Components Laboratory, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, United States; Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States; King Abdulaziz University, Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials Research (CEAMR), PO Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: dsargyro@ncsu.edu.
authors.forename: Dimitris S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Argyropoulos
keywords: (31)P NMR; Earlywood; Ionic liquid; Latewood; Wood acetylation; Wood functionalization