STUDY OF METHODOLOGY FOR PETROPORPHYRIN GROUP ISOLATIONS FROM SHALE AND PETROLEUM SOURCE MATERIALS.

This proposal seeks to evaluate new sorptive materials and better uses of methodological principals for solving difficult separation problems. New zeolitic sorbents, including silicalite and pillared layer clays are to be studied in order to understand and to exploit their potential ultraselectivity. The logic of multistage separations, though widely unused, will be investigated to help combine theoretical and experimental approaches to the efficient achievement of ultraselective separations. The foregoing efforts are focussed upon two groups of indicator compounds, the monomethyl paraffins and the petroporphyrins. These case studies are designed to challenge the premises of this proposal in areas of geochemical significance and well established separation difficulty.