Colour modifications caused by exposure to artificial UV radiation (350 nm, UV-A) of four tropical hardwoods, jatobA, angelim vermelho, garapeira, and marupa, have been evaluated by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and by the CIE-L*a*b* system. To obtain the absorption maxima of the chromophore species formed during UV irradiation, Kubelka-Munk (K-M) difference spectra (nonirradiated-irradiated) have been recorded as a function of exposure time. The K-M difference spectra have shown that the investigated species develop strong absorption bands in the visible region upon UV irradiation that were assigned to the formation of lignin and extractive photodegradation products. The K-M difference spectra and CIE-L*a*b* parameters (DeltaL, Deltaa, and Deltab) have shown that marupd is the wood species that suffers the major changes upon UV irradiation while angelim vermelho was the least affected. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.