The lipophilic extractives of an interglacial fossil Picea abies from Zeifen (Germany)

A fossil Picea abies from Zeifen (Germany), 100,000 years old and still pre senting good physical and anatomical properties, is analysed with respect t o its lipophilic content. Comparisons are made with a recent Picea abies, w ith a subfossil larch and with Taxodioxylon gypsaceum fossils ranging from 1.7 to 20 million years ago. Due to the relatively small age and the low de gree of degradation, terpenes having structures intermediate between the or iginal compounds and the final terpanes are looked for. Lipophilic componen ts obtained from the fossil Picea abies by extraction with dichloromethane include linear alkanes, fatty acids, high MWs alcohols and terpenoids such as sesquiterpanes, diterpanes and diterpenoids. Some of extractive componen ts result unchanged after the process of ageing while others correspond to substances derived by a process of hydrolysis of original extractives occur ring in recent Picea abies. Diterpanes (norabietatriene, norpimarane, reten e and alpha-phyllocladane) correspond to those present in most fossils of c onifers, even if a trend to the formation of demethylated compounds is obse rved. Diterpenoids, on the contrary, are present exclusively as the dehydro abietic acid structure, the form preceding or responsible of those of most diterpanes, while different structures are not found. Since intermediate co mpounds with structures different from the abietic one are absent they migh t be looked for in younger fossils. The presence of a large amount of terpa nes places this fossil rather closer to Taxodioxylon gypsaceum samples than to the subfossil larch.