Patent ID: 8123904

Claim:
A method of making Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) having improved moisture tolerance comprising: providing a fibrous lignocellulose material; treating the material with a compound having the formula wherein R 1 and R 2 are independently a member selected from the group consisting of —OH, halide, substituted amine, unsubstituted amine, —OR 3 , and wherein R 3 and R 4 are independently a branched or unbranched, cyclic or linear, saturated or unsaturated, substituted or unsubstituted C 1-10 alkyl, at a temperature in the range of 90-170° C. generating a treated material; extracting hemicellulose sugars from the treated material; refining the treated material to generate a fibrous pulp, wherein the refining step can be performed either before or after the extraction step; adding a suitable resin to the fibrous pulp; and forming the fibrous pulp into medium density fiber-board, wherein R 1 and R 2 cannot both be —OH.