Lipid and lignin composition of woods from different eucalypt species

The lipid and lignin compositions of woods from the eucalypt species Eucalyptus globulus, E. nitens, E. maidenii, E. grandis, and E. dunnii have been characterized. The lipid composition was analyzed by GC and GC/MS using shortand medium-length high-temperature capillary columns, which allowed the detection of intact highmolecular-weight compounds. Similar lipid compositions were observed in all eucalypt woods, which were dominated by sitosterol, sitosterol esters and sitosteryl 3b-Dglucopyranoside. These substance classes are mainly responsible for pitch deposition during kraft pulping of eucalypt wood. However, some quantitative differences were found in the abundance of different lipid classes, with wood from E. globulus containing the lowest amounts of these pitch-forming compounds. The lignins of all eucalypt woods were analyzed in situ (without previous isolation) by pyrolysis-GC/MS. A predominance of syringyl (S) over guaiacyl (G) lignin units was observed and the S/G ratio was in the range from 2.7 to 4.1. E. globulus wood had the highest S/G ratio, a finding that, together with its low lignin content, explains its easy delignification under kraft cooking conditions.