Abstract
The isolation and identification of the metal porphyrins found in crude oils and oil shales have been extensively studied since their discovery in these materials by Treibs1. He postulated that the principal compound found in geological samples is vanadyl deoxophylloerythroetioporphyrin (DPEP) and developed a detailed scheme2 to show that this compound (I) was formed from chlorophyll (II). Consequently, the presence of metal porphyrins in crude oils was taken to show their biological origin, and his work thus laid the foundations for organic geochemistry. However, despite its general acceptance, proof of Treibs' hypothesis still requires the isolation and unambiguous structure determination of vanadyl-DPEP from geological sources. Thus, although C32 DPEP has been synthesized on several occasions3–6, its identity with the naturally occurring material has not been established. We now report that the determination of the crystal structure of a petroporphyrin isolated from an Australian oil shale confirms the above hypothesis.
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References
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Ekstrom, A., Fookes, C., Hambley, T. et al. Determination of the crystal structure of a petroporphyrin isolated from oil shale. Nature 306, 173–174 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/306173a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/306173a0
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