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Hydrogel-based boron salt formulations for wood preservation

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Abstract

Mixing boron with two thermoreversible hydrogels, obtained from an amphiphilic tripeptide and a carbamate derivative of glycerol, respectively, allows the formation of a supramolecular network that incorporates boron and significant amounts of water upon gelification of the solution when the temperature decreases. Hydrogels obtained from these gelators were impregnated in pine sapwood blocks using vacuum pressure treatment and subjected to leaching. Results indicated that incorporation of boron salts in the hydrogel network effectively protected the wood from degradation caused by the brown rot fungus Poria placenta and from attack by termites also even after leaching. It is believed that these hydrogels fill the tracheid cell walls and lumens, limiting the leachability of boron salts when the wood is humidified.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the CPER 2007–2013 “Structuration du Pôle de Compétitivité Fibres Grand’Est” (Competitiveness Fibre Cluster), Salveco and the “Région Lorraine”. The EA 4370 LERMAB is supported by the French National Research Agency through the Laboratory of Excellence ARBRE (ANR-12- LABXARBRE-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherche sur le Matériau Bois, Faculté des Sciences et Technologies, EA 4370-USC INRA, Université de Lorraine, BP 70239, 54506, Vandoeuvre-Lès-Nancy Cedex, France

    Firmin Obounou-Akong, Philippe Gérardin & Christine Gérardin-Charbonnier

  2. Laboratoire de Préservation des Bois, UPR 40, TA B 40/16, CIRAD PERSYST, 73 rue Jean François Breton, 34398, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    Marie-France Thévenon

Authors
  1. Firmin Obounou-Akong
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  2. Philippe Gérardin
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  3. Marie-France Thévenon
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  4. Christine Gérardin-Charbonnier
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Correspondence to Christine Gérardin-Charbonnier.

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Obounou-Akong, F., Gérardin, P., Thévenon, MF. et al. Hydrogel-based boron salt formulations for wood preservation. Wood Sci Technol 49, 443–456 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-015-0701-4

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