Asphaltenes defect site

Porphyrin and nonporphyrin metals associated with asphaltenes have not been easy to identify in terms of molecular structure. This is partly due to the fact that the characteristics (i.e., spectra) of all possible model nonporphyrin compounds have not been studied. Nonporphyrin metals are probably small polar molecules that precipitate as asphaltenes (Filby, 1975) or complex at defect sites in large aromatic sheet structures of the type shown in Fig. 10. Porphyrins with increased aromaticity and systems with low aromaticity due to discontinued ring conjugation are both characterized as nonporphyrin species. These compounds do not have the characteristic visible absorption spectra and hence are not readily identified. It is also possible that some of the porphyrin in the residuum may not be extracted and identified due to intermolecular association with the asphaltene-generating molecules. 

Fig. 10. Possible defect site in an aromatic sheet of the asphaltene (Tynan and Yen, 1969).

Vanadyl salen provides a model of mixed heteroatom metal coordination characteristic of Ni and VO in the maltenes and asphaltenes. Approximately 50-90% of the metals in petroleum are not contained in the free porphyrin fraction. Yen (1975, 1978) has postulated that these metals exist in a variety of environments such as highly aromatic bound porphyrins, complexed to tetradentates of mixed N, S, and O ligands, or defect sites in large aromatic sheets. Analytical work by Fish et al. (1984) has indicated the presence of metals complexed to salen-type ligands in petroleum. 

Asphaltenes can have a fixed capacity for complexing metals.This fact is demonstrated with washing cycles and with increments of scattering by small angle scattering experiments. These sites may be defect centers from the aromatization of S, N, and 0-containing hydrocarbon skeletons. ... 

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See also in sourсe #XX -- [ ]

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