In the course of the last decades chemical modification of wood species, with a limited natural durability, has been subjected to intensive research. As a possible alternative and supplementary treatment of non-durable wood in a range of applications it remains one of the major topics in the wood preservation world. Different modification systems have been scaled-up and are now in an industrialising phase. In this paper a possible new chemical modification technique, with N-methylolacrylamide (NMA), is described. The main objective of chemical modification with this monomer is to improve the dimensional stability and the decay resistance of non-durable wood species. Data on the latter will be reported on comparative bases. The fact that NMA-monomer is a water-soluble monomer, can be put forward as one of the plus-points. This aspect on the other hand results in a possible risk for the aquatic food chain, which comprises a possible drawback in view of scaling-up. In this framework several aquatic toxicity tests have been executed on leachates of wood treated with NMA under different reaction conditions.

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