%0 Research Notes
%T Quantitative gas chroma­tographic analysis of degradation and oxidation products from a Finnish Sphagnum peat
%A Lehto, Olli
%A Tuhkanen, Marketta
%A Ishiwatari, Ryoshi
%A Uzaki, Minoru
%D 1985
%J Suo - Mires and peat
%V 36
%N 4-5
%U http://suo.fi/article/9609
%X A sample of Finnish Sphagnum peat and its humic fractions (humin, humic acid and fulvic acid) were oxidized by alkaline CuO and KMnO4 methods and degraded by NaOH hydrolysis and KOH fusion. The oxidation and degradation products were analyzed quantitatively by high resolution gas chromatography.
The results revealed that (1) "lignin" constituents of the peat and peat humic fractions are predominantly p-hydroxyl units which are not typical lignin units; (2) the degree of humification of the peat is low; and (3) a close relation is present among m-hydroxybenzoic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid and p-hydroxyacetophenone as the degradation products of peat and peat humic fractions.