Superficial Alteration of Fossil Resins in Humic Media Studied by Vibrational Spectroscopy

摘要

Fossil resins represent transformed plant derived resins found in the frame of sedimentary rocks. Original resins consist of a mixture of more or less water insoluble, organic polymeric compounds based on different terpenoid or polystyrene units. They are more or less soluble in different organic solvents. Specific resins can be described as exudates of recent (e.g. copals, kauri resin, Detarieae of the Leguminosae family) and ancient (in the case of Baltic amber, Pinus , Araucariacae, in the case of valchovite, Dammarophyllum , in the case of prilepite, Dadoxylon ) trees.