Chlorination, Nitration, and Amination Reactions of Asphaltene

Asphaltenes are well known for their problematic characterstics during petroleum refining as well as dubiously complex structure. In this work, chlorination of various types of asphaltenes have been achieved by sulfuryl chloride with and without AIBN initiator, while nitraion and reactions with amines (aniline, triethylamine, t-butyl amine, and piperidine) were accomplished through nitrous acid and diazotization process, respectively. The charaterization of the products obtained were performed by FTIR spectroscopy. The data regarding the composition of the asphaltenes generated in this work will surely enhance our understanding toward the asphaltenes. It is envisaged that such reactions will provide an opportunity to investigate further the reacting behavior of asphaltenes for better industrial use.