Fate and influence of western red cedar extractives in mechanical pulping

The methanol extractives from western red cedar mechanical pulps were found to be radically different in composition to the extractives obtained from the heartwood. The major heartwood extractive components, the tropolones and lignans, were not present in the extractives from the pulps. However, the proportion of a brown polymer doubled. The low and high molecular weight methanol extractives components from the pulps were separated using methyl tert-butyl ether. The low molecular fraction contained mostly guaiacyl-based compounds with dihydroquercetin, thujic acid, 3-hydroxy-1-(4′-hydroxy-3′-methoxyphenyl)-2-oxopropane and 4-ethyl-2-methoxy-6-hydroxyphenol being positively identified. The brown polymeric portion had molecular weights ranging from 1,000 to 10,000. Infrared analysis indicated that the polymers were formed from lignans. Examination of the changes in diffuse reflectance UV-visible and infra red spectra of the pulps on extraction with methanol, suggested that the colour resides in insoluble polymers formed from plicatic acid/plicatin during refining. Received 18 December 1998