Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of fractions separated from a low-temperature coal tar: an attempt to develop a general method for characterising structures and compositions of heavy hydrocarbon liquids.

A low-temperature coal tar has been fractionated by column chromatography into acetonitrile, pyridine and 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone- (NMP) solubles. The tar and its fractions have been examined by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Fractionation by planar chromatography was also carried out for purposes of comparison. Molecular masses of the fractions were estimated by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), and bulk structural characterisation was carried out by C-13-NMR and UV-fluorescence spectrometry. SEC showed that the fractions shifted to progressively shorter elution times (higher apparent masses) with diminishing solubility, i.e. from acetonitrile to NMP solubles. UV-fluorescence spectra showed parallel shifts to longer wavelengths and lower fluorescence quantum yields, indicating increasing sizes of aromatic ring systems and increasingly complex molecules. GC/MS analysis of the tar showed alkanes from C10 to C32 and extensive series of alkylated aromatics, phenols, indenes, naphthalenes, phenanthrenes and fluoranthenes. Pyrolysis-GC/MS results for the acetonitrile solubles closely resembled the data for the tar sample, with extensive series of alkylated benzenes, phenols and naphthalenes as well as alkanes from C16 to C28. The pyridine-soluble fraction showed no significant aromatic pyrolysis products and only relatively weak signals for alkanes between C16 and C27. The NMP-soluble fraction showed even less overall signal, with no significant aromatic components and weak signals for alkanes between C21 and C25, even though C-13-NMR analyses showed that approximately half of the carbon detected was aromatic. The aliphatics are assumed to provide bridging structures between polycyclic aromatic (PCA) ring systems. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.