Direct chemical characterization of natural wood resins by temperature-resolved and space-resolved Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

• Multiple FT-IR methods are proposed for the direct characterization of wood resins.
• Temperature-resolved FT-IR can interpret the compounds of wood resin exudates.
• FT-IR spectroscopic imaging can resolve the compounds of resin-containing woods.
• FT-IR can be a useful tool for the research and quality control of wood resins.

Wood resins are valuable natural products with wide utilizations. Either in the form of resin exudates or in the form of resin-containing woods, natural wood resins are usually complex mixtures consisting of various compounds. Therefore, effective chemical characterization methods are necessary for the research and quality control of natural wood resins. No need for separation or labeling, wood resin samples can be measured directly by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, which reduces the testing costs and avoids the possible distortions caused by the pretreatments. However, the absorption bands of various compositions in the resin sample are assembled in a single spectrum by the separation-free measurement, which makes it difficult to identify the compounds of interest and decreases the limits of detection. In this research, the temperature-resolved and space-resolved FT-IR techniques are proposed to resolve the overlapped signals for the direct, selective, and sensitive characterization of natural wood resins. For resin exudates, the temperature-resolved FT-IR spectroscopy and two-dimensional correlation analysis can resolve the absorption bands of different compounds according to their responses to the thermal perturbations. For resin-containing woods, the FT-IR microspectroscopic imaging and principal component analysis can resolve the absorption bands of different compounds according to their positions. The study of six kinds of wood resins proves the feasibility of temperature-resolved and space-resolved FT-IR techniques for the direct, selective, and sensitive chemical characterization of natural wood resins.

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