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7965414 
Journal Article 
Diamondoid hydrocarbons - Application in the chemical fingerprinting of natural gas condensate and gasoline 
Stout, SA; Douglas, GS 
2004 
Yes 
Environmental Forensics
ISSN: 1527-5922
EISSN: 1527-5930 
5 
4 
225-235 
English 
WOS:000226306800005 
Diamondoids are a class of naturally occurring, saturated hydrocarbons in petroleum that consist of three or more fused cyclohexane rings, which results in a "diamond-like" structure. The diamondoids that can be found in light petroleum liquids (e.g., natural gas condensates), intermediate petroleum distillates (e.g., naphthas), and finished petroleum products (e.g., automotive gasoline) include adamantane (boiling point ∼190°C) and diamantene (boiling point ∼272°C), and their various substituted equivalents. Previous petroleum geochemistry studies indicate these naturally occurring compounds are extremely resistant to weathering. As such, their distribution and relative abundance in environmental samples can be useful in the chemical fingerprinting of light petroleum and gasoline. In this article, the application of diamondoids in the chemical fingerprinting of lower boiling petroleum in environmental samples is introduced and demonstrated. Specifically, the relative abundance of C0- to C4-alkylated adamantanes, as determined relative to comparably boiling C5-alkylated benzenes, is shown to be significantly greater in natural gas condensates than in gasoline-derived nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) and modern automotive gasolines, which along with more conventional fingerprinting further allows for their distinction in the environment. 
natural gas condensate; petroleum; adamantane; naphtha; diamantane