%0 Journal Article
%T Demystifying the tropics: FTIR characterization of pantropical woods and their α-cellulose extracts for past atmospheric 14C reconstructions.
%A Griffin JN
%A Santos GM
%A Nguyen LD
%A Rodriguez DRO
%A Pereira LG
%A Jaén-Barrios N
%A Assis-Pereira G
%A de Oliveira Barreto N
%A Brandes AFN
%A Barbosa AC
%A Groenendijk P
%J Sci Total Environ
%V 949
%N 0
%D 2024 Nov 1
%M 39053534
%F 10.753
%R 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175010
%X To ensure unbiased tree-ring radiocarbon (14C) results, traditional pretreatments carefully isolate wood cellulose from extractives using organic solvents, among other chemicals. The addition of solvents is laborious, time-consuming, and can increase the risk of carbon contamination. Tropical woods show a high diversity in wood-anatomical and extractive composition, but the necessity of organic-solvent extraction for the 14C dating of these diverse woods remains untested. We applied a chemical treatment that excludes the solvent step on the wood of 8 tropical tree species sampled in South-America and Africa, with different wood-anatomical and extractive properties. We analyzed the success of the extractive removal along with several steps of the α-cellulose extraction procedure using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and further confirmed the quality of 14C measurements after extraction. The α-cellulose extracts obtained here showed FTIR-spectra free of signals from various extractives and the 14C results on these samples showed reliable results. The chemical method evaluated reduces the technical complexity required to prepare α-cellulose samples for 14C dating, and therefore can bolster global atmospheric 14C applications, especially in the tropics.