The fragmentation behavior and variation of the pristane-phytane ratios of pure phytol in conditions of clay catalysis.

The thermal evolution of phytol in thecatalytic environmentsof reduction, montmorillonite catalysis and illite catalysis has been investigated. The results show the following: (1)Montmorillonite and illite facilitate the defunctionalization and further cracking of phytol. (2) Pristane and phytane can no longer serve as effect biomarkers at the high thermal evolution stage due to loss of thermostability. (3) Ratios of pristane/phytane greater than 1derive from reduction and montmorillonite catalysis environments. However, the ratio of pristane/phytane was less than 1 under the condition of illite catalysis, which has not been shown before. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]