Guayule Resin as a Protectant for Wood Against Attack by Various Marine and Terrestrial Wood-Destroying Organisms

Abstract

The U.S. Navy has a large amount of wood in marine and terrestrial service, and this wood must be treated to protect it against depredation by wood-destroying organisms. Still, the annual cost for repair or replacement of wood damaged by marine borers, alone, amounts to about 25 million dollars (Pendleton and O’Neill, 1987); terrestrial wood destroyers add to this cost. Obviously, currently used wood preservatives are not entirely satisfactory; additionally, these preservatives are facing an uncertain future for environmental reasons. Thus, the Navy needs more effective, and environmentally acceptable, wood protectants to replace those in use. Pursuant evaluating for efficacy the by-product resin which this need, the Naval Research Laboratory is a marine and/or terrestrial wood protectant, accumulates during the production of rubber from guayule (Parthenium argentatum Gray). Guayule grows in the arid southwestern United States and in northern Mexico and is the source of natural rubber nearly identical chemically and physically to that obtained from Hevea brasiliensis. This multicomponent resin contains a wide spectrum of organics (Banigan, et al., 1982; Schloman, et al., 1983) including polyphenols, cinnamyl derivatives, and a variety of terpenoids. Past experience (Bultman and Parrish, 1979; Bailey, et al., 1979; Chan and Jurd, 1973; Bultman, et al. 1982) indicates that these compounds would be the most likely to impart a protective character to the resin.