Fossil-fuel structures, chemistry

The Carbon—Carbon Bond is the backbone of Organic Chemistry, For a covalent bond between two like atoms its strength is exceptional, a phenomenon which is pointed out in most beginners text books of Organic Chemistry. Due to this exceptional bond energy and due to their chemical inertness C—C bonds in carbon structures have been ideally suited for the storage of solar energy of past times in primary fossil fuels as well as in renewable feedstocks such as cellulose, starch and fat. 

A wide range of structurally diverse compounds is produced during incineration. These include PAHs and related compounds, azaarenes, and chlorinated PAHs from combustion of fossil fuels and natural wildfires. Organic compounds in the atmosphere may exist both in the free (gaseous) state or on particles of various dimensions. Recent concern has been directed to the occurrence in aerosols both of the compounds themselves and of their transformation products (secondary aerosols) (1) for their role in atmospheric chemistry and as determinants of climate (Andreae and Crutzen 1997) and (2) due to health risks since aerosol formation facilitates the transport into and sorption by the lungs. 

In the early stages of preparation of the present manuscript I was confronted with a surprise The analysis of alkanes and cycloalkanes has never been reviewed as such. Although the C—C and C—H bonds are the most abundant bonds in organic chemistry, the analysis of compounds constructed solely from these bonds cannot be found in analytical reviews of functional groups. Therefore, I could not relate to previous secondary or tertiary sources of literature. Moreover, the reader of this chapter will find that, although I attempted to stay as objective as possible in presenting the various analytical techniques, most of the advanced applications come from petroleum and other fossil fuels studies. Since the choice of analytical techniques relates to structures of the whole alkane or cycloalkane, the various isomers, enantiomers or conformations are discussed. 

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