An investigation of the reaction of epoxides with wood

The reaction of wood with two functionalised epoxides, allyl glycidyl ether (AGE) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), has been studied. For the reaction with whole wood samples of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris), maximum weight percent gains (WPG's) of 20% (GMA) and 7% (AGE) were obtained using pyridine as a solvent/catalyst. However, reaction of the epoxides with thermomechanically pulped Spruce fibre yielded WPG's of 15% (GMA) and 0% (AGE) under the same reaction conditions. In addition, the use of hydroquinone as an inhibitor of polymerisation yielded variable results. The observed WPG's obtained were found to be strongly influenced by the clean-up procedure used at the end of the reaction. The results suggest that, under the conditions used in this study, no reaction with the wood hydroxyl groups is occurring but that homopolymerisation of the epoxides is responsible for the observed data.