Abstract
Asphaltene is a complex, high molecular weight fraction of petroleum. Being a solubility class it is an extremely heterogeneous mixture, which makes structural investigations on this material very difficult. For this reason, although a great deal of valuable information has been reported, many structural details remain unsettled. Of basic significance are the framework of the carbon skeleton, which contains carbons in aromatic and saturated rings as well as in sidechains, and the nature of the bridges connecting the hydrocarbon fragments of the molecule. Also, in view of the high heteroatom content of the Alberta oil sand asphaltene, it is important to determine the types of functional groups in which these heteroatoms appear and their reactivities. We have studied the potential of chemical and thermal degradation reactions in resolving these structural features and the subject of this investigation is the high molecular weight, sulfur-rich asphaltene from the Athabasca bitumen.