Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Extract from the Wood of Fagus orientalis: Water Resistance and Decay Resistance against Trametes versicolor

Extracted wood samples of Fagus orientalis with different solvents were analyzed for their antifungal activity against white-rot fungus (Trametes versicolor) in an agar plate. The most active extract was analyzed for its antioxidant activity by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method, and the chemical composition were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. After the solvent removal of extractives, especially using chloroform (Chl) and Chl-water mixture, losses in the resistance of beech wood had occurred. However, Chl extract was found to be the most active antifungal agent, and the weight loss (30.38%) of specimens after 14 weeks of incubation was higher than that of other extracted specimens. At the concentration of 0.016 mg/mL, the highest activity observed was by Chl extract (89.45%), which was lower than the value of vitamin C (96.63%) at the same concentration. The lowest weight loss values obtained from the decay test were 0.35% and 0.64% for ethanol and ethanol-water extracted beech wood samples, respectively. The highest weight loss values were 30.38% and 23.98% for Chl and Chl-water extracted samples, respectively