2007 Research Highlights

Research Area:
Forest Service Strategic Goal 6: Conduct mission-related work in addition to that which supports the agency goals.
SPA: Resource Management and Use

Imaging methods using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study the fundamental reaction of wood adhesives.

Key Contact: Charles Frihart, cfrihart@fs.fed.us

A new specimen preparation method is allowing us to examine fundamental adhesive-wood reactions using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. This method has been shown to be practical and now we are obtaining the detailed data. Learning about the structure of wood has been difficult because it has often required breaking and separating the components apart to analyze these wood polymers. This process can often structurally alter these native components. Thus, our development of a new procedure that dissolves the wood after minimal alteration is valuable for learning about the native structure of wood polymers and their reactions with different chemicals. This process has been used to obtain the magnetic resonance spectroscopy of wood polymers prior to and after chemical reactions.

Analysis of wood polymers has always been difficult and has required the separation of the wood into its individual polymers by destruction of the wood structure. A new method of preparing samples for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy has been developed to directly examine wood chemistry in adhesive bonding, wood hardening, and wood decay.