A mass spectrometry study of thermal dissociation of cork

Mass spectrometry has proved a convenient technique for the analysis of plant cell-wall material. In this work a comparative study is made of chemically treated cork and untreated cork, applying a method in which samples were continuously heated in vacuum. The outgassing products, upon electron-induced fragmentation, are analysed by a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Sequence of spectra at increasing temperatures were obtained for each sample, which allowed identification of the main groups of fragmentation. From such sequences of spectra one may derive intensity—temperature curves for each peak. Analysis of these curves for samples subjected to different treatments proved useful to identify the peaks, to assign the component which originates the species and even to derive activation energies.