this study is devoted to the detailed in situ Raman spectroscopy investigation of propane c 3 H 8 in laserheated diamond anvil cells in the range of pressures from 3 to 22 GPa and temperatures from 900 to 3000 K. We show that propane, while being exposed to particular thermobaric conditions, could react, leading to the formation of hydrocarbons, both saturated and unsaturated as well as soot. Our results suggest that propane could be a precursor of heavy hydrocarbons and will produce more than just sooty material when subjected to extreme conditions. These results could clarify the issue of the presence of heavy hydrocarbons in the earth's upper mantle.Thermal and catalytic transformations of various hydrocarbon compounds at normal pressure have attracted significant attention in the field of petrochemistry. However, high-pressure chemistry of hydrocarbons as a science started to develop only recently, -primarily due to the unavailability of the specific equipment for the experiments. To date, only methane, the first member of the alkane homologous series, has been investigated when subjected to a wide range of pressures and temperatures 1-4 , because of its widespread occurrence in geological systems 5-7 and well-known role in the atmosphere of the Solar System's outer planets 8,9 . The behavior of other hydrocarbons, both unsaturated 10,11 and saturated 12,13 , have been less widely investigated with the use of various high-pressure techniques.The focus on the significance of methane's high-pressure high-temperature behavior implies that the fate of higher hydrocarbons has been ignored. Though the high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) behavior of ethane has been investigated several times 12,14 , propane has only been studied at ambient temperatures 15,16 . Propane is the third most abundant hydrocarbon on Earth after methane and ethane. It has been detected in the atmosphere of outer planets 17 and their satellites 18 , and is a typical product of HPHT hydrocarbon synthesis performed both for chemical and geological purposes 19,20 .The relevance of the investigation of carbon-bearing compounds can be understood from the perspective of the growing evidence of the role of hydrocarbon compounds deep in the Earth's interior, which could contribute to the global carbon cycle 21,22 . Unfortunately, even for methane, investigations into its behavior under conditions of high pressure have yielded inconclusive and mutually conflicting results.Propane's importance as a petrochemical feedstock led to detailed studies of its thermal transformations in the range of 500-900 °C in processes such as pyrolysis and thermal cracking [23][24][25] . By changing the basic conditions of the process, the content of hydrocarbon compounds complex systems could be varied from higher normal and isoalkanes, dienes, arenes, and alkenes to C 1 -C 3 fractions. These thermal processes were only investigated in the diapason under relatively mild pressures because of the process goal-low pressures are favorable for the synthesis of low-molecul...