Raman and FTIR spectroscopic studies on two hydroxylated tung oils (HTO) bearing conjugated double bonds.

Tung oil (TO) was used as a model compound to study two hydroxylated tung oils (HTO), prepared from TO by either aminolysis (HTO-am) or alcoholysis (HTO-al). Main bands in Raman and FTIR spectra were initially assigned based on the detailed analysis of the compound spectra before and after exposure to elevated temperature (200°C). The effect of heat treatment in air on spectral bands, and especially on the changes associated with double bonds, were then investigated. In the present work, changes in spectral bands due to heat treatment were compared with those revealed in the previous work of others. The results show that the conjugated triene structure of TO has been retained during alcoholysis and aminolysis, to yield the HTOs studied; yet the change of the triene structure caused by heating is different among the three samples; the H-bonding strength between OH and CO in HTO-am is higher than that in HTO-al; the changes in HTO vOH and vCO bands in FTIR caused by the present heat treatment were significant; for TO, there is a big difference between changes in spectra as caused by thermal exposure, compared to those caused by ageing under UV light or exposure to a catalyst. The present work has laid additional groundwork for further study of the reactions of such triply conjugated double bond structures under different ageing conditions.