The occurrence of phytane in petroleum

Crude Petroleum

“…One of the most interesting observations in recent years has been the isolation and identification in petroleum distillates of the isoprenoid alkanes, particularly farnesane, pristane and phytane [103][104][105][106]. The concentrations of these higher hydrocarbons with a terpenoid structure are again high relative to other types of hydrocarbons in the same carbon number range and support the argument for their biological origin.…”

“…The presence of these alkanes in both terrestrial [189] and aquatic [190] plants is almost universal. The discovery of isoprenoid alkanes [103,104,87] in relatively high concentrations in petroleum has led to their widespread use as biological markers to indicate the presence of past life in a wide variety of geological situations [108]. With the identification of geranylgeraniol in plants [191], it would no longer appear always necessary to relate phytane and pristane directly to chlorophyll, or with the degradation of squalene [105]; indeed, it is probable that in time, free terpenoid precursors for the whole series of isoprenoid alkanes will be revealed in plants.…”

Mass Spectrometry in Organic Geochemistry

“…In a subsequent paper by these authors [118], mass spectrometry was used in the identification of the C 14 , C 15 , C 16 , C 18 , C 19 , C zo and C 21 regular isoprenoids from East Texas Oil. DEAN and WHITEHEAD [119] first reported phytane, and MAIR et al [120] identified the C I4 and C I5 isoprenoids in a light gas oil fraction. From the Colorado Green River Formation the C 15 , C 16 , C 18 , C I9 and C 20 isoprenoids have been reported [113,121,122] and a series of isoprenoids has been isolated from the Precambrian Nonesuch Shale [113,122].…”

Hydrocarbon Exploration in Peninsular India by Advanced Biochemical Markers Method

“…The hydrocarbons are one of the organic complex materials rich in terpenoids and considered that they have been originated from ancient biological organisms. For example, pristane and phytane were the saturated hydrocarbon fractions seen in petroleum and oil shales [1]. Aliphatic polyaldehydes of high molecular weight occur in the three races of B. braunii [2,3].…”