Issue 3, 2017

Characterizing aliphatic moieties in hydrocarbons with atomic force microscopy

Abstract

We designed and studied hydrocarbon model compounds by high-resolution noncontact atomic force microscopy. In addition to planar polycyclic aromatic moieties, these novel model compounds feature linear alkyl and cycloaliphatic motifs that exist in most hydrocarbon resources – particularly in petroleum asphaltenes and other petroleum fractions – or in lipids in biological samples. We demonstrate successful intact deposition by sublimation of the alkyl-aromatics, and differentiate aliphatic moieties from their aromatic counterparts which were generated from the former by atomic manipulation. The characterization by AFM in combination with atomic manipulation provides clear fingerprints of the aromatic and aliphatic moieties that will facilitate their assignment in a priori unknown samples.

Graphical abstract: Characterizing aliphatic moieties in hydrocarbons with atomic force microscopy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
21 Oct 2016
Accepted
11 Dec 2016
First published
12 Dec 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 2315-2320

Characterizing aliphatic moieties in hydrocarbons with atomic force microscopy

B. Schuler, Y. Zhang, S. Collazos, S. Fatayer, G. Meyer, D. Pérez, E. Guitián, M. R. Harper, J. D. Kushnerick, D. Peña and L. Gross, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 2315 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC04698C

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