An Investigation of the Fatty Acid Composition of New and Aged Tung Oil

Abstract

Tung oil was used as an ingredient in historic conservation materials. Wooden art objects were treated with tung and linseed oil mixtures for consolidation purposes. To provide a reference for the identification of the oil component in these materials, tung oil was examined in this study, both in the fresh state and under accelerated ageing conditions. The alteration of the fatty acid composition was analysed in comparison with linseed oil by gas chromatographic methods coupled with mass spectrometry. The main component in the triglycerides of tung oil, á-eleostearic acid (cis, trans, trans-9,11,13-octadecatrienoic acid), was converted primarily into two compounds identified as isomers. Their structures were characterized based on their mass spectra. Furthermore, the degradation processes of tung and linseed oil into dicarboxylic acids were analysed for comparison. The results were applied to the examination of a polychromed wooden altar from the Saxonia region in middle Germany. Tung oil was identified in the exudation material of the wood by the presence of a characteristic isomer of eleostearic acid, which was determined earlier as the same marker conversion product in the reference samples.

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