Nj. Loader et al., AN IMPROVED TECHNIQUE FOR THE BATCH PROCESSING OF SMALL WHOLEWOOD SAMPLES TO ALPHA-CELLULOSE, Chemical geology, 136(3-4), 1997, pp. 313-317
We present details of a modified technique for the extraction of alpha
-cellulose from wood samples. The revised technique, based upon the so
dium chlorite oxidation method of Green (1963) utilises an ultrasonic
bath and small Soxhlet thimbles to prepare alpha-cellulose from sliver
s of wholewood. These modifications facilitate the rapid batch process
ing of small wholewood samples to alpha-cellulose and yield a material
with sufficient homogeneity as required for palaeoclimatic reconstruc
tion.