IDENTIFICATION OF BIOGENIC PARAFFINS AND THEIR THERMAL PHASE TRANSITIONS

Abstract

Natural normal paraffin hydrocarbons C n H2n + 2 (n = 17–41) of a biological origin were investigated in terms of their composition, structure, polymorph modification, and thermal phase transition. Paraffin compositions were studied from beeswax (honeycombs and their cappings), plant wax (apple and pumpkin rinds), as well as from different parts of rat cerebrum (cortex, subcortex, brainstem, cerebellum, cerebral hemispheres, myelin, chromatin, etc.). X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), chromatography, and high-temperature XRD, as well as original analytical methods elaborated upon by the authors, were used. The beeswax paraffin composition that corresponds to the six-component solid solution with a superperiodic four-layer orthorhombic cell was subjected to experimental modeling for the first time. The prepared mixture simulated a paraffin composition (n = 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33) and the asymmetric distribution of homologues by n.