LASER DESORPTION MASS SPECTROMETRY AND SMALL ANGLE NEUTRON SCATTERING OF HEAVY FOSSIL MATERIALS

The determination of the structural building blocks and the molecular weight range of heavy hydrocarbon materials is of crucial importance in research on their reactivity and for their processing. The chemically and physically heterogenous nature of heavy hydrocarbon materials, such as coals, heavy petroleum fractions, and residues, dictates that their structure and reactivity patterns be. complicated. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the molecular structure and molecular weight distribution of these materials is not dependent on a single molecule, but on a complex mixture of molecules which vary among coals and heavy petroleum samples. Laser Desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) is emerging as a technique for molecular weight determination having found widespread use in biological polymer research, but is still a relatively new technique in the fossil fuel area. Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) provides information on the size and shape of heavy fossil materials. SANS offers the advantages of high penetration power even in thick cells at high temperatures and high contrast for hydrocarbon systems'dispersed in deuterated solvents. LDMS coupled with time of flight has the advantages of high sensitivity and transmission and high mass range. We have used LDMS to examine various heavy fossil-derived materials including: long chai