Solid-state NMR studies of wood and other lignocellulosic materials

Solid-state NMR spectroscopy has been extensively applied to the structural characterization of the main components of wood, carbohydrate and lignin. The knowledge of the in situ structure and behaviour of such components is, however, of extreme importance since they determine the properties of wood materials under a variety of conditions. Some of the first applications of NMR to the direct study of wood involved the use of low-resolution measurements for the study of water within the wood fibre. With the development of high-resolution NMR techniques, an increasing number of in situ studies of wood have been carried out in order to investigate the behaviour of wood and wood-derived systems upon conditions such as stage of tree growth, susceptibility to biodegradation, response to pulping and bleaching and use in composite materials. Reference is also made to cork, another lignocellulosic material of economic interest to which solid-state NMR has been applied in an attempt to understand the origins of cork functional properties. © 1999 Academic Press Inc.