Tannin plywood bioadhesives with non-volatile aldehydes generation by specific oxidation of mono- and disaccharides

Abstract Sodium periodate has been shown to cleave glucose by specific oxidation to yield a number of non-volatile aldehydes which can react with the phenolic compounds in tannin extract and lead to tannin cross-linking and hardening. This approach to prepare a tannin resin useable for wood adhesives can be used by either treating with periodate a mixture of tannin and glucose, or to treat glucose beforehand with periodate to cleave it and generate the aldehydes, and only afterwards to mix it with the tannin. The results obtained with these two methods are identical, but the latter method avoids oxidation of tannin. The aldehydes were generated either by direct cleavage of glucose C–C bonds carrying vicinal oriented hydroxyls, or by recombination of the aldehydes so formed by aldol condensation or by water elimination between two aldehyde groups. MALDI ToF analysis indicated that all the three types of aldehydes appeared to react with the polyphenols in the tannin. Thermomechanical analysis (TMA) and plywood bonded with the tannin + glucose + periodate mixes gave good bonding results, with dry, 24 h cold water soaking and 3 h at 63 °C shear strength values improving concomitantly to the proportion of periodate used for the oxidation step.