The organic matter in source rocks and oil shales distributed in the s
outheastern and southwestern parts of the Korean peninsular has been a
nalyzed. A mixture of benzene, acetone and methanol was used to extrac
t bitumen by Soxhlet extraction method. The extractable organic matter
was separated into aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, and
asphaltene by preparative thin layer chromatography. By urea adductio
n method, aliphatic hydrocarbons were separated into linear aliphatic
hydrocarbons and cyclic or branched aliphatic hydrocarbons. The alipha
tic hydrocarbons were analyzed by GC/FID and. GC/MS. The gas chromatog
rams for linear aliphatic hydrocarbons showed the distribution of C-12
-C-35 compounds. Generally, the odd number hydrocarbons were detected
more than the even number hydrocarbons. From the total ion chromatogra
ms and mass spectra of cyclic and branched aliphatic hydrocarbons, sev
eral compounds including 1-methylpropyl-cyclohexane were identified.