COMPOSITION OF THE EXTRACT FROM A CARBONIFEROUS BITUMINOUS COAL .1. BULK AND MOLECULAR CONSTITUTION

A procedure for the extraction, separation and characterization of coa l bitumen is described. A Carboniferous coal was subjected to exhausti ve (single-step) extraction with dimethylacetamide (DMAA) at ambient t emperature. The treatment solubilized similar to 24wt% of the organic matter. The bitumen was fractionated further and some fractions were s eparated into normal and branched/cyclic components. By g.c. and g.c.- m.s., n-alkanes, hopanes, benzohopanes, steranes, bicyclic sesquiterpa nes, seco-hopanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and their alkylat ed homologues were identified. Number-average structural analysis was applied to the polar fractions and revealed some peculiarities of the structural units, i.e. simple molecular aggregates.