Hydrolytic disproportionation and kerogen oxidation

For example, the oxidation of n-octane to acetic acid can be written as  

There are some serious questions regarding the above mechanisms. First as Helgeson et al. (1993) state, whether or not reaction (49) actually represents metastable equilibrium at the oil-water interface and acetic acid in oil field waters cannot be determined with certainty in the present state of knowledge. Even if reaction (49) turns out to be thermodynamically favorable, one has to probe the possible energy barrier to find out if the reaction is feasible under geological conditions. From an ab initio point of view, it is very difficult to imagine a reaction like reaction (49) with very stable reactants (hydrocarbon saturates and oxygen) that can react with fixed coefficients to proceed without assistance. It seems mineral matter or some other natural catalyst has to be 

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In the following sections, we will discuss several proposed mechanisms of water-organic (kerogen) interactions. They include the direct interactions (hydrolysis) of water-kerogen at elevated temperature by Siskin and Katritzky (1995) water-hydrocarbon radical interactions by Lewan (1997) and hydrolytic disproportionation and kerogen oxidation by Helgeson et al. (1993). We will use ab initio method to test the feasibility of these mechanisms and and to find out how likely they can proceed under geological conditions. 

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