Identification of three different tocopheryl ester series in wood extractives from several species of eucalyptus

Three different series of tocopheryl esters, which have rarely been reported in plants, have been identified in the wood from several species of eucalypt, including Eucalyptus globulus, E. nitens, E. maidenii, E. grandis and E. dunnii. These series of compounds were characterized intact by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Based on their mass spectra, the compounds were identified as three series of -tocopherol, -tocopherol and-tocopherol esterified to long chain fatty acids. The different series of tocopherol esters were esterified to fatty acids in the range from C12 to C20 including the unsaturated oleic (C18:1) and linoleic (C18:2) acids, with the presence of exclusively the even carbon atom number homologues and the C18:1 and C18:2 being the most prominent.This study has been funded by the Spanish project AGL2005-01748. Javier Romero (ENCE, Pontevedra, Spain) is acknowledged for providing the eucalypt wood samples. J.R. thanks the Spanish CSIC for a I3P fellowship.Peer reviewe