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6856024 
Meetings & Symposia 
New approaches to the rapid analysis of cellulose in wood 
Wallis, AFA; Wallis, AFA; Wearne, RH; Wearne, RH; Wright, PJ; Wright, PJ; Canadian, P; Paper, A; Canadian, P; Paper, A 
1997 
1 
C3-1-C3-4 
English 
WOS:A1997BJ19P00017 
The cellulose contents of a series of plantation Eucalyptus nitens woods were determined gravimetrically using three previously described methods suited to the rapid screening of small-scale samples. All methods involved acid-catalysed organic solvolysis, and two of the procedures also utilised oxidising agents. As a reference, cellulose was determined chromatographically by high performance anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD) of acid hydrolysates. The composition of each gravimetric cellulose residue was also examined by HPAEC-PAD to determine the purity of the residues. The solvolytic method, involving treatment of woodmeal in a boiling mixture of acetylacetone-dioxane-hydrochloric acid (the Seifert procedure), gave the most accurate cellulose values and produced the purest cellulose residues. The residues from the two oxidative procedures in which the woodmeals were boiled with peroxyacetic acid or with nitric acid/acetic acid contained considerable amounts of xylan. An alternative method for cellulose determination in eucalypt woods, involving digestion of the woodmeals with diglyme and hydrochloric acid, was found to give comparable results to the Seifert method. Advantages of the new technique include the use of less toxic solvents, and digestion in closed bottles rather than heating under reflux, allowing the simultaneous analysis of multiple samples.< 
Anon