Investigation of photochemical conversion processes in aromatic hydrocarbons of Balakhani oil

Abstract

In this paper, Balakhani oil, as the case study, was separated into 4 groups of aromatics by adsorption column chromatography. With the aid of GC-MS and UV/vis spectrometers, it was proved that the composition of the separated groups is mainly composed of mono-, di-, tri- and a trace amount of tetracyclic aromatics. The conversion process of separated aromatics under photo-irradiation was investigated by IR, UV, 1H NMR and GC-MS spectroscopies. It was found that the components of aromatic groups undergo photo-conversion processes at different rates depending on their composition. In the 3rd and 4th groups, the mentioned process occurs slowly, so their use as petroleum luminophores (PLs) may be recommended. It was found that the PLs based on these groups have variable luminescence properties, and the variation range of their spectral-luminescence properties was also determined. Finally, the role of singlet (1O2) and triplet (3O2) oxygens in reversible and irreversible photooxidation reactions with aromatics was investigated as well as, the significance of molecular and chain-radical reactions in this process was also determined.