Gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric examination of products from laboratory thermal degradation of kerogen from a young marine sediment (Tanner Basin off California), revealed a series of long-chain nitriles whose carbon-chain lengths range from 12 to 26. These compounds appeared after the relatively mild thermal conditions of 310-350°C for 5-116 hrs and disappeared before major n alkane generation. We hypothesise that n-alkanes are generated at the expense of long-chain fatty nitriles which in turn are formed via fatty acid amide-linked structures in kerogen.Heating of standard long chain (C18) fatty acid amides with kerogen produced n-alkanes with no odd/even predominance. The heating experiments showed that these nitrogen compounds have a strong potential for producing a series of normal hydrocarbons. Consequently, nitrogen-linked long methylene-chain structures in kerogen analogous to fatty acid amides /fatty nitriles can act as one of the precursors of petroleum hydrocarbons.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.