Evaluation and Identification of Chemical Compounds in the Beech Wood Extractives by GC/MS

Beech (Fagusorientalis L.) is a wood species from genera of deciduous and hardwood trees. It has been one of the most important industrial wood species in Iran which belongs to the non- durable wood species class. In order to evaluate the wood extractives role on little durability of this wood species against white- rot, Trametes versicolor fungus, wood extractives of wood samples in dimension of 2×2×2 cm were soxhlet(?!) extracted with various combinations of organic solvents including n- hexane: ethanol (1:1), ethanol, chloroform, diethyl ether, and water, according to TAPPI T204 om- 88 and ASTM 1107- 96. Average percentage of chloroform wood extractives of beech wood equal 5.97% was determined. Results from weight loss of specimens after 14 weeks duration indicated that the effect of chloroform extracts was more on durability of specimens against wood- rotting fungus and weight loss of specimens (30.38%) was higher than the other treatments. Finally, phenolic and lipophilic compounds in the chloroform extractives of this wood species were identified by GC/MS. Generally, 28 compounds were identified with different percentages in the beech wood. The most abundant compounds identified were hexadecanoic acid, trimethylsilyl ester (13.28%), trans- Caryophyllene (12.88%), trimethylsilyl 3,5- dimethoxy- 4- (trimethylsilyloxy) benzoate (11.69%), eicosane (6.96%), and hexadecane (6.79%). Also, from phenolic compounds (sesquiterpenes) with antifungal, antibacterial, and larvicidal activity, trans- Caryophyllene (12.88%), beta.- Selinene (3.10%), beta.- Bisabolene (3.01%),.alpha.- Selinene (2.19%),.alpha.- Caryophyllene (1.85%), Caryophyllene oxide (1.54%), alpha- Copaene (0.92%), delta.- Cadinene (0.85%), beta.- Elemene (0.77%), and isoeugenol (0.19%) were identified.