¹H NMR study and multivariate data analysis of reindeer skin tanning methods

Abstract

Reindeer skin clothing has been an essential component in the lives of indigenous people of the arctic and sub-arctic regions, keeping them warm during harsh winters. However, the skin processing technology, which often conveys the history and tradition of the indigenous group, has not been well documented. In this study, NMR spectra and relaxation behaviors of reindeer skin samples treated with a variety of vegetable tannin extracts, oils and fatty substances are studied and compared. With the assistance of principal component analysis (PCA), one can recognize patterns and identify groupings of differently treated samples. These methods could be important aids in efforts to conserve museum leather artifacts with unknown treatment methods and in the analysis of reindeer skin tanning processes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

13C solid‐state NMR complemented by ATR‐FTIR and micro‐DSC to study modern collagen‐based material and historical leather

“…[23] In literature, only two studies were focused on the identification of tannins in historical leather by NMR spectroscopy. [24,25] Solid-state 13 C CP-MAS NMR spectroscopy is a powerful tool in the characterisation of solid materials including those belonging to cultural heritage, [12,13] and it has showed a great potential for characterising collagenous materials. The 13 C CP-MAS spectrum of leather may provide a 'fingerprint' of the solid component of collagen, allowing also the tannin-type identification.…”