Petroleum Hydrocarbons

Analyses data on the composition, structure and formation of various petroleum hydrocarbons: the alkanes, cycloalkanes and arenes. Attention is paid to biological markers, com- pounds that may have preserved the main structural features of the original biogenic molecules. Concepts of chemical classification of crude oils are reviewed with respect to the molecular mass distribution of biological markers, and the genesis and chemical evolution of petroleum hydrocarbons are discussed.