CHARACTERIZATION OF SUBFOSSIL SPHAGNUM LEAVES, ROOTLETS OF ERICACEAE AND THEIR PEAT BY PYROLYSIS HIGH-RESOLUTION GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

A silicon from an oligotrophic peat and handpicked subfossil plant fragments from this peat were studied by pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS). The Py-GC-MS data consist of evaporation products of adsorbed compounds and a large number of pyrolysis products from remnants of the plant macromolecular systems. The Sphagnum pyrolysate consists mainly of compounds derived from polysaccharides, including anhydro sugars from xylose, mannose, galactose and glucose. Only a few phenolic compounds were observed in the peat moss sample.