This study aimed at correlating selected carcass borne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with the postmortem interval (PMI). Selected volatiles should 1st be reliably emitted during vertebrate decay, 2nd be emitted at high concentrations, and 3rd show a reproducible quantitative dynamic during the decaying process. Four pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus L.) were placed in a deciduous forest in different seasons and volatiles emitted during the decaying process were sampled. Seventeen compounds were identified and quantified by GC-MS. Electrophysiological experiments on the antenna of female Calliphora vicina and additional data of Dermestes maculans were used as an evolutionary tuned information filter to evaluate the 1st criterion. The relative quantitative emission of hexanal, nonanal, dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl trisulfide, 1-butanol, and phenol were correlated with the PMI, and the observed stages of decay and the limitations of this model were discussed.

Emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from wood during processing to pelletssignificance of wood extractives. Cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin are the main components of the cell wall in wood. Moreover, wood contains different amounts of extractives, depending on the wood species. Extractives in softwoods play an important role during processing of wood to different wood products. This work studies the influence of storage on the change of extractives as well as on the emission of monoterpenes (primary emission) and aliphatic aldehydes, as degradation products of fats and fatty acids (secondary emission). In case of pine wood storage for 2 days at 80uC proved to be more efficient in the reduction of emissions of terpenes and aldehydes than 4 weeks at 40uC. Quantitative differences between pine (Pinus sylvestris) and spruce (Picea abies) wood chips in the emission were evaluated and discussed. Pinewood emits about 10 times higher amounts of terpenes and aldehydes than spruce wood. The results indicate that the intense of change in primary and secondary emissions due to storage depends on the wood species as well as on the boundary conditions under which storage is carried out. In general, storage at high temperature (80uC) is much more effective than at low temperature (40uC). The results also reveal that removal of wood extractives from pine wood by extraction with ethanol-cyclohexane or treatment with sodium hydroxide decreases the emission of primary and secondary volatile organic compounds drastically. Nevertheless, after such treatments minute amounts of volatile organic compounds are still detectable.