Volatile organic compounds in paper—an approach for identification of markers in aged books

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds emitted from historical books made from cotton/linen rag and wood pulp paper have been studied. Different profiles were obtained using different solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fibres to access the compounds involved in the decomposition reactions occurring in cotton/linen rag and wood pulp paper upon natural ageing and precocious/accelerated degradation. Contact headspace solid-phase extraction coupled with gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS) was improved as a non-destructive methodology for the analysis of historical books. Potential markers of cellulose degradation-linear hydrocarbons, linear aldehydes, and 2-furfural-together with potential markers of cotton/linen rag paper (isopropylic esters) were identified. Chiral analysis (SPME-c-GC-TOF-MS) showed that only the enantiomer (S)-2-ethyl-1-hexanol is present as an emanation compound in both types of paper. Validation studies for a larger number of books are being done.

Oil Media on Paper: Investigating the Effect of Linseed Oils on Pure Cellulosic Paper Supports. A Research Matter of Damage Assessment

“…VOCs were sampled non-destructively by means of extraction without the application of a solution or incubation in elevated temperatures to promote the emission of compounds used in previous studies [8,17,18,37]. Non-destructive application has been successfully used before by placing the needle at the surface of samples or mock-ups or between two sheets of books in an open space or restricted in inert packages [38][39][40][41]. In addition, VOC sampling/extraction with an SPME needle from oil sketches and prints encased in a glass structure to constrain environmental contamination has been used in previous work [8].…”

“…These compounds have been associated with the oxidation of linseed oil and papers [17,18,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. The majority of VOCs detected have been reported in studies on linseed oil with different origins, extraction methods and processes during manufacture (virgin/raw and refined) for different uses (food, cosmetics, and painting materials), with or without being accelerated storage or oxidation conditions [42][43][44][45][46][47].…”

Ethylene Oxide for the Mass Deacidification of Paper Relics

“…7a 1718 cm − 1 is attributed to the stretching vibration absorption peak of carboxylic acid carbonyl C = O. After EO-Ar treatment, the peak position shifted slightly to the high wave number, and it was speculated that the carbonyl group of aldehyde [39] , ketone and carboxylic acid [40] reacted with ethylene oxide to form ester carbonyl group. The formation of the carbonyl ester can be veri ed by the absorption peak of C-O-C asymmetric stretching vibration of the 1200 cm − 1 ester.…”

Relating volatiles analysis by GC–MS to Oddy test performance for determining the suitability of museum construction materials

“…These concerns have prompted the search for alternative methods of material suitability testing, especially those that utilize chromatographic separations of the emitted compounds [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. These approaches offer significant advantages in terms of speed and the comprehensive nature of the analysis, and they are also often seen as being a more objective assessment of the dangers posed by a material than that generated by the Oddy test.…”