Novel identification of (17. beta. H)-hopanes in Green River oil shale kerogens

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · American Chemical Society, Division of Petroleum Chemistry, Preprints; (USA)

OSTI ID:5331178

Barakat, A O; Yen, T F

Many of the chemical studies on oil shale have been directed toward the discovery and structural elucidations of compounds thought to be directly related to common biological precursor material. The emphasis on the search for triterpenoidal alkanes is a reflection of current interest in this field. It is now firmly established that triterpenoids of the hopane family (C{sub 27}-C{sub 35}) are valuable biological markers for organic matter from bacterial or terrestrial sources. Moreover, certain sterochemical changes which take place in these molecules could be useful as indicators of the degree of maturation. However, due to the complexity of the kerogen structure, previous investigations have dealt mainly with pyrolysis products and solvent soluble extracts. Inasmuch as kerogen, which constitutes the bulk of organic matter in sediments, represents a potential source of contamination-free biomarkers, a deeper understanding of both the biological and diagenetic processes which contributed to the genesis of the shale organics, necessitates the characterization of these compounds in kerogen. Recently, we have carried out an exhaustive chemical degradation of Green River oil shale kerogen using sodium dichromate/glacial acetic acid under mild conditions. Evidence is reported here from capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) data for provisional identification of a series of (17{beta}H)-hopane derivatives (C{sub 30}-C{sub 33}) in the extracts of the primary oxidation products.

• OSTI ID: 5331178
• Journal Information: American Chemical Society, Division of Petroleum Chemistry, Preprints; (USA), Journal Name: American Chemical Society, Division of Petroleum Chemistry, Preprints; (USA) Vol. 32:1; ISSN 0569-3799; ISSN ACPCA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040500* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Properties & Composition
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400102 -- Chemical & Spectral Procedures
ACETIC ACID
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKANES
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
CHROMIUM COMPOUNDS
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
DICHROMATES
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
HYDROCARBONS
INFORMATION
KEROGEN
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
MATERIALS
MONOCARBOXYLIC ACIDS
NUMERICAL DATA
OIL SHALES
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC MATTER
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
QUALITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SPECTROSCOPY
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS