Petroleum/fossil fuel alkylation

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, sometimes also called polynuclear aromatics, PNA) are a hazardous class of widespread pollutants. The parent structures of the common PAHs are shown in Fig. 4 and the alkylated homologs are generally minor in combustion emissions. PAHs are produced by all natural combustion processes (e.g., wild fires) and from anthropogenic activity such as fossil fuels combustion, biomass burning, chemical manufacturing, petroleum refining, metallurgical processes, coal utilization, tar production, etc. [6,9,15,18, 20,24,131-139]. 

Where does the immense variety of organic compounds come from Amazingly enough, the ultimate source of nearly all synthetic organic compounds is petroleum. Petroleum is a fossil fuel that consists almost entirely of hydrocarbons, especially alkanes. How can alkanes be converted into compounds as different as alkyl halides, alcohols, and amines ... 

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