Abstract
Naturally occurring amphotropic liquid-crystals were recently identified in unreacted hydrocarbon resources and resource fractions from around the world, including Athabasca bitumen. Liquid crystal forming constituents are present in both asphaltene and maltene fractions and appear to be an important class of materials that is missed entirely during conventional hydrocarbon characterization, i.e.: SIMDIST or SARA analysis. In this contribution, some physical properties of liquid crystals in Athabasca asphaltenes and maltenes identified using experimental methods as diverse as polarized light microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and mid- and near-infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy with depth profiling are reported. Liquid crystals, comprising materials with an aromaticity between that of maltenes and asphaltenes, form irreversibly on the surface of both asphaltene particles and maltene drops on heating. At higher temperatures the liquid crystals become isotropic but remain on particle surf...
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