Analytical Pyrolysis to Investigate Organic Materials in Heritage Science

The molecular characterization of organic materials in samples from artworks and historical objects commonly entails qualitative and quantitative analyses by HPLC and GC. However, most constituents of paint layers and archaeological organic substances contain major insoluble and chemically non-hydrolysable fractions that are inaccessible to GC or HPLC.

Organic materials that are macromolecular in nature, or undergo polymerization upon curing and ageing, can be better investigated by approaches based on analytical pyrolysis, enabling small, precious samples to be analysed without any chemical pre-treatment.

Pyrolysis shows further potential in heritage science thanks to instrumental developments as double-shot and multi-shot pyrolysis-GC-MS, particularly suitable for the analysis of hetereogeneous samples.

The webinar will present recent advances in the qualitative and semi-quantitative analyses of organic materials in ancient and modern heritage objects, based on analytical pyrolysis coupled to mass spectrometry.

Presenter: Prof. Francesca Modugno (University Pisa, Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, Italy)

Presenter: Dr. Michael Soll (EU Business Development Manager, Frontier Laboratories)