NMR chemical shifts of carbon atoms and characteristic shift ranges in the oil sample

Abstract

Application of high resolution 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to characterize crude oil was demonstrated. The chemical shifts of 13C NMR functional groups that determine the composition of the oil sample were determined. Molar fractions of primary, secondary, quaternary, tertiary, aromatic groups, aromatic factor and average hydrocarbon chain length of aliphatic hydrocarbons of the oil sample according to 13C NMR spectra were determined. Detailed description of the 13C NMR spectra of the oil sample using a single consideration of three NMR spectra: 13C, 13C Attached Proton Test (APT), 13C with Gated Decoupling (GD) was performed. The different contribution of the studied oil sample in the aliphatic (10–75 ppm) and aromatic (115–165 ppm) areas of the 13C NMR spectra was determined. The presence of all major hydrocarbon components in the studied oil sample was established on the quantitative level, the aromaticity factor and the mean length of the hydrocarbon chain were evaluated. Quantitative fractions of aromatic molecules and functional groups constituting oil hydrocarbons were determined. In this work we demonstrate that the attached proton test and gated decoupling 13C NMR spectroscopy can afford all information to complete the chemical shift assignment of an oil sample, especially for determination of long range 1H–13C coupling constants and 13C multiplicity.