Comparison between 10,000-year old and contemporary spruce lignin

Wood from white spruce Picea glauca that had been preserved by rapid burial in lake sediments 10,000 years ago, was investigated and compared to a contemporary reference white spruce wood. The 10,000-year old sample appeared to have an intact primary cell wall and middle lamella, whereas the carbohydrate monomer distribution, and microscopic images showed that the secondary wall was at least partially removed, indicating that this structure had been selectively attacked by bacteria. The Klason lignin amount in the aged spruce was found to be 60%. The relative lignin monomer content in the aged spruce was 9% lower than that of the reference wood, showing that there were fewer β-O-4' linkages in the aged sample. This finding was supported by SEC analysis of the thioacidolysed samples as a larger proportion of lignin oligomers were observed in the aged spruce than in the reference material. This indicates a somewhat greater number of condensed bonds in the aged spruce than in the reference spruce sample. Quantitative ¹³C NMR analysis and HSQC techniques applied on milled wood lignins (MWL) revealed no significant structural differences between the aged spruce and the reference.