A simple and convenient determination of perylene preserved in the Late Neogene wood from northeastern Tennessee using fluorescence spectroscopy

A new and convenient fluorescence spectroscopic method has been developed for the separation and determination of perylene in fossil wood recovered from a late Miocene to early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site in Tennessee, USA. This is the first report where perylene was separated from fossil samples from this newly discovered fossil site. The chemical structure of perylene was elucidated and confirmed by UV–visible and 1H NMR spectroscopies, and ESI-TOF high accuracy mass spectrometry. The fluorescence of perylene was used to measure the contents of perylene in the fossil conifer and oak wood, which were found to be 5.34 and 0.78 μg/g, respectively. The results suggested that the amount of perylene in the fossil conifer wood was 7-fold higher than that in the oak wood. The method, which uses highly sensitive fluorescence spectroscopy, should provide a new approach for the analysis of other fossil and geochemical samples containing perylene.