Analysis of cellulose chemical modification: A potentially promising technique for characterizing cellulose archaeological textiles

Fifteen different known age samples of light non-dyed linen textile dated within the range of sc 1200-AD 1500 years were studied by combined capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry analysis of the textile cellulose enzymatic hydrolysates. Both field ionization and field desorption variants of mass spectrometry have been used for identification of each electrophoretic fraction. A high resolution pattern was obtained using the 100 mM tetraborate (pH 9.0) capillary zone electrophoresis system and the on-column-laser-based refractive index detector. It has been shown that all archaeological textiles tested contain alkylated cellulose sequences. Thus, these sequences of different textile samples differ from each other by alkyl groups (acetyl-, carboxy-, or methyl-) as well as by the structure and abundance of the alkylated glucose residues. A possible origin and meaning of the character of this alkylation is discussed, including special reference to correlations between such parameters as (1) alkylation peculiarities, (2) geographical area of the textile manufacturing, and (3) the textile calender age values. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited