Please cite this article in press as: I. ˇ Cabalová, et al., The inﬂuence of selected efﬁcient compounds of essential oils for paper protection, Journal of Cultural Heritage (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2018.11.002 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model CULHER-3502; No. of Pages 7 Journal of Cultural Heritage xxx (2018) xxx–xxx Available online at ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com Original article The inﬂuence of selected efﬁcient compounds of essential oils for paper protection Iveta ˇ Cabalová a,∗ , Bˇ retislav ˇ Ceˇ sek b , Ondˇ rej Mikala b , Jan Gojn ´ y b , Frantiˇ sek Kaˇ cík a,c , Tereza Tribulová c a Department of chemistry and chemical technologies, Faculty of wood sciences and technology, Technical university in Zvolen, T.G. Masaryka 24, 960 53 Zvolen, Slovak Republic b Institute of chemistry and technology of macromolecular materials, Faculty of chemical technology, University of Pardubice, Studentská 95, 532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic c Department of wood processing, Czech university of life sciences, Kam´ ycká 1176, Praha 6 - Suchdol, 16521 Prague, Czech Republic a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 11 June 2018 Accepted 5 November 2018 Available online xxx Keywords: Cultural heritage Essential oils Linalyl acetate Citral Cellulose degree of polymerization Saccharides a b s t r a c t The most common negative inﬂuences on lignocellulosic materials from biological point of view include invading of microorganisms, which have in humid environments of porous materials favourable condi- tions for growth and reproduction. The aim of this study was to assess the inﬂuence of selected compounds present in essential oils- EOs (linalyl acetate-LA and citral-C) and the accelerated ageing process on the chemical (cellulose degree of polymerization, content of saccharides), mechanical (tensile index) and physical (ﬁbres length distribution) properties of papers. LA and C were evaluated as the compounds with the highest antimicrobial activity and therefore, they were applied into the paper mass in form of their vapours. Paper samples were prepared from ﬁve types of material. Chemical changes were evaluated by wet chemical methods, size exclusion chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, mechanical property according to ISO 1924-2 standard and morphological properties of ﬁbres by using Fiber Tester equipment. In the view of followed properties, the protecting impact of these EOs efﬁcient compounds has a greater importance in their application before the ageing process itself, especially at wood pulp papers and papers produced from sulphate deciduous pulp. The contents of both holocellulose and a cellulose degree of polymerization were signiﬁcantly correlated with the tensile index of the paper. © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Paper is subject to a various of degradation processes under depending of the environment. Among the intrinsic factors that affect paper degradation and which already come from the produc- tion process, include e.g. type, quality and chemical composition of pulps, using of ﬁllers, sizing agents and dyestuffs, etc. Outside factors are relative humidity [1–4], environmental cleanliness (sul- fur and nitrogen oxides, ozone) [5] and its pH value [6,7], light energy [8–10] and presence of microorganisms (molds, bacteria, insects) [11]. Paper-making aids are used to improve its durability e.g. using neutral sizing agents [12], coating by special compounds (e.g. chitosan) [13], using wet-strength resin, etc. Some microorganisms (fungi, rots) attack the polysaccaridic materials by hydrolytic process. This reaction is very slow, but it disrupts the crystalline parts of cellulose, which provides easier ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: cabalova@tuzvo.sk (I. ˇ Cabalová). access and further degradation [14]. The cellulotic microorgan- isms that most frequently attack the paper-based materials include Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium genus. Lignins are considered to be highly resistant to biodegradation. Anyway, new methods for protection of lignocellulosic materials against pests can be necessary after possible prohibition of presently used biocides [15]. One of the ways to prevent attack by microorganisms is the use of steams of essential oils (EOs). These compounds, called also volatile or ethereal oils, are aromatic oily liquids obtained from plant material (ﬂowers, browse, seeds, leaves, twigs, bark, herbs, wood, fruits and roots) [16]. EOs are complex mixtures of sub- stances, consisting most often terpenes and derivatives thereof, hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acid [17] (e.g. 1.8 cineole; linalool; camphor; 4-terpineol; -terpineol; lina- lyl acetate, more or less according to the extraction technique used) [18]. They can be obtained by expression [19], fermentation, enﬂeurage, extraction [20,21] dry distillation [22] but the method of steam distillation is most commonly used for commercial pro- duction of EOs [23]. EOs modify the surface properties of the paper sheet pores and thus the paper receives less water from the envi- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2018.11.002 1296-2074/© 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.