Hydrocarbons
are important carbon components in the subducting
slab and play a crucial role in the Earth’s deep carbon cycle.
In this study, the thermal reaction of pentacosane (n-C25), a long n-alkane, was experimentally
investigated under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions at
0.5–1.5 GPa and 360–400 °C. The gas chromatography–mass
spectrometry (GC/MS) analyses of the reaction products revealed that
the radical reaction of n-C25 proceeded
above 360 °C at 0.5 GPa and above 380 °C at 1.5 GPa, while
the rate constant decreased with increasing pressure. Lighter n-alkanes and heavier straight/branched alkanes were detected
in the reaction products. The formation of lighter n-alkanes indicates thermal cracking progression, even at high-pressure
conditions. During thermal cracking, lighter 1-alkenes were likely
to form but were instead rapidly added to the initial n-C25 to form heavier alkanes when enhanced by pressure.
Thus, lighter 1-alkenes were not detected in the reaction products.
As the secondary reaction, the heavier alkanes were polymerized with
dehydrogenation to form amorphous carbon when the remaining percentage
of the initial material became <10% and <20% at 0.5 and 1.5
GPa, respectively, while the lighter n-alkanes were
detected simultaneously. Both lighter alkanes with high H/C ratios
and amorphous carbon with a low H/C ratio eventually formed through
the reaction of n-alkanes at high-pressure and high-temperature
conditions of the deep Earth.