MODELING OF KEROGEN FORMATION WITH THE USE OF PHOSPHOLIPID LIPOSOMES

Abstract

Lecithin liposomes were used to experimentally model oxidative polymerization transformations in the lipid substance, a probable kerogen source. The resulting model kerogen was characterized as structurally close to real kerogen and as a polymer lipid with fatty acid chains cross-linked by both carbon-oxygen and carbon-carbon cross-links. The characterization was made based on IR, UV, and NMR spectroscopic evidence and based on the results of hydrothermal decomposition. System-structural simulation showed that carbon-carbon cross-links could have resulted from the Michael reaction and the aldol condensation of the oxidation products of lecithin. As inferred from the character of the alteration of the model substance, the ratio of aliphatic to cyclic fragments in the kerogen is a function of the starting content of saturated and unsaturated components of the parent organic substance.