Abstract
THE isoprenoid hydrocarbons, pristane and phyfcane, which occur together in crude oils1–4, oil shale5 and ancient sediments6, are presumed to have been formed from chlorophyll by various reaction routes. Neither pristane nor phytane is a normal constituent of land plants7. Pristane and phytadienes are abundant in marine organisms, and pristane (but not phytane) is present in recent marine sediments. It has been suggested that phytane is a post-depositional geochemical product8. Our investigations of the occurrence of normal, branched and cyclic saturated hydrocarbons in coals9 have shown that they are formed during coalification principally at stages of diagenesis later than brown coal9a.
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BROOKS, J., GOULD, K. & SMITH, J. Isoprenoid Hydrocarbons in Coal and Petroleum. Nature 222, 257–259 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/222257a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/222257a0
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