Patent ID: 6902767

Claim:
A process for treating wood having wood cellulose having a plurality of hydroxyl groups comprising the steps of: providing a solution comprised of: a non-water-based hydrophilic organic solvent; a solute compound having a plurality of functional groups wherein each of which functional group includes: an atom selected from the group consisting of tetravalent atoms, wherein said atom is bonded to a halogen atom or a functional group selected from the group consisting of a hydroxyl group, alkoxy group, phenoxy group, benzyloxy group, an aryloxy group having a polycyclic aromatic ring, and combinations thereof; and at least one acid catalyst; applying said solution to the wood cellulose, and reacting said functional groups to form covalent bonds with other functional groups of said solute and to said wood cellulose and wherein the acid catalyst is produced by a pro-catalyst defined as a molecule producing an acid in the presence of wood cellulose or water in wood cellulose.