TETRAMETHYLAMMONIUM HYDROXIDE (TMAH) THERMOCHEMOLYSIS OF THE ALIPHATIC BIOPOLYMER CUTAN - INSIGHTS INTO THE CHEMICAL-STRUCTURE

Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) thermochemolysis has been applied to the diagenetically resistant aliphatic biopolymer cutan derived fr om the leaf cuticles of Agave americana. Data obtained from the cutan sample using this new analytical method are vastly different in compar ison with conventional flash pyrolysis data of the same sample. Under conventional flash pyrolysis conditions, the dominant products were al kanes, alkenes, and alpha, omega-alkadienes. Under thermochemolysis co nditions, however, the cutan biopolymer yielded fatty acid methyl este rs (FAMEs) of varying carbon chain length, along with a large number o f benzenecarboxylic acid methyl esters that point to the possibility o f a chemical structure containing functionalized benzene rings. This t ype of structure is absent from the current structural model of cutan. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd