Sixteen commercially available oak chips, differing in origin (French or American) and toasting level,were extracted by an accelerated solvent extraction method and characterized by their volatilecomposition. About 80 compounds were identified and quantified, a great part of them from thethermodegradation of lignin and cellulose. One furanone (solerone) and two C-13 norisoprenoids(3-oxo-
![](/images/gifchars/alpha.gif)
-ionol and a 3-oxoretro-
![](/images/gifchars/alpha.gif)
-ionol isomer) were also tentatively identified and reported for thefirst time in toasted wood. Quantitative data demonstrated the oak chips to be not so different fromthe composition of light- or medium-toasted wood barrels, which was reported by other authors. Thesame data suggest that toasting level had the strongest influence on the volatile composition of chipsamples. Phenyl ketones, volatile phenols, and some furanic compounds were the most influenced.On the other hand, the influence of wood origin was found to be weaker.