Insoluble, Nonhydrolyzable Highly Aliphatic Biopolymers from Algal Cell Walls and Vascular Plant Cuticles and Barks as Sources of N-Alkanes in Crude Oils

E. W. Tegelaar, J. E. De Leeuw, B. Horsfield

Recently discovered insoluble, nonhydrolyzable highly aliphatic biopolymers occurring in cell walls of several extant algae and in cuticles and barks of vascular plants are selectively preserved during diagenesis and represent as such, or in a slightly altered form, a considerable part of kerogens. Thermal simulation experiments performed with these isolated biopolymers of extant organisms yield series of n-alkanes with carbon number distribution patterns very similar to those of n-alkanes in natural crude oils.