What is it about?
H-shaped tetraacids with 80 carbon atoms and pentacyclic rings in their structures, presumably derived from microbial lipids, are enriched in oilfield deposits formed under some operating conditions. Although problematic for petroleum production, the distribution by carbon and ring number may hold useful geochemical information. Here we analysed the distribution of these tetraacids using HTGC and HPLC.
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Why is it important?
Biosynthetic cross-linking of long-chain lipids to form H-shaped compounds appears to be a rare phenomenon. This may be limited to select members of the ancient domain Archaea in response to environmental stimuli such as extreme pH, temperature, pressure, ionic gradient, that controls the numeric distribution of carbon atoms and pentacyclic rings. If we can undertsand the drivers we can interpret the geochemical signal.
Perspectives
Here we developed HPLC and HTGC methods for analysis of the distributions of C80 H-shaped tetraacids. Although HTGC was not a new technique, recent technological improvements in instrumentation and chromatographic column technology generated a renewed interest in its use.
Dr Paul A Sutton
University of Plymouth
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Analysis of ‘ARN’ naphthenic acids by high temperature gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, Journal of Separation Science, February 2007, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/jssc.200600266.
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