Abstract

Gas-chromatography combined with mass spectroscopy was used to identify low-molecular weight organic compounds in two arboreal species. The woody extracts of seasoned heartwood of Quercus petraea and Myrocarpus frondosus, of interest to the parquet industry and the environmental field, were investigated. Different alkali extraction procedures were carried out using a CH3OH/H2O (1:1, v/v) solution. Particularly high extraction rates were obtained for antioxidant compounds such as ferulic acid (1.596 mg/g), syringaldehyde (0.74 mg/g), vanillic acid (0.327 mg/g) and gallic acid (0.114 mg/g). (E)-coniferyl alcohol, ranging from 0.006 mg/g to 0.099 mg/g, was found in all the samples, depending on the sample and extraction procedure, suggesting its use as an indicator of lignin degradation under alkali hydrolysis.