Thin wood veneers were esterified to different weight gains with three different aromatic vinyl esters, vinyl benzoate, vinyl cinnamate and vinyl 4-T-butylbenzoate and the photostability of the modified wood was examined. There was a linear relationship between the level of esterification of wood with vinyl benzoate and the photostability of the modified veneers exposed to natural weathering. Vinyl benzoate protected lignin and cellulose in wood from photodegradation at high weight gains (>30%) whereas modification of wood with vinyl-4-T-butylbenzoate provided no such protection and vinyl cinnamate increased the photodegradation of wood. We provide an explanation for why these effects occurred and discuss the implications of our findings for the development of weather-resistant wood materials.

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