Direct analysis of phenolic extractives in wood by thermochemolysis-gas chromatography in the presence of tetrabutylammonium hydroxide

Thermochemolysis-gas chromatography in the presence of tetrabutylammonium hydroxide was applied to the direct determination of phenolic compounds present as “extractives” in a wood sample (Eucalyptus camaldulensis). The phenolic extractives converted into their perbutyl derivatives were separated from the other phenolic products derived from the lignin skeleton in the observed chromatogram of the wood sample. On the basis of their peak intensities, the contents of the phenolic extractives in the wood sample were rapidly and precisely determined without using preliminary solvent extraction of the wood sample.