Raman spectroscopic monitoring of Lactarius latex

Lactarius is a genus of Basidiomycotina with mainly agaricoid representatives, which are characterised by the excretion of a typical milky fluid. In particular, the colour, changes and taste of this latex-like milk are often used as a taxonomically important character. When it is exuded several chemical reactions occur. To date, NMR spectroscopy is generally used for chemical investigation of this latex. However, as a vibrational spectroscopic technique Raman spectroscopy has several advantageous properties for this type of research. The aim of this study is to investigate whether Raman spectroscopy can be used as an alternative analytical technique to monitor the chemical reactions in Lactarius latex. Therefore, this paper presents the first Raman spectra of Lactarius latex and provides an interpretation of the Raman bands that are present. L. lacunarum latex spectra are thoroughly investigated by 2D correlation analysis and are compared with latex spectra of other species (L. chrysorrheus, L. deterrimus, L. fluens, L. glyciosmus and L. salmonicolor). (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.