Asphaltenes comprise the heaviest and least understood fraction of crude petroleum. The
asphaltenes are a diverse and complex mixture of organic and organometallic molecules in …

The increasing demand for fossil fuels and the depleting of light crude oil in the next years
generates the need to exploit heavy and unconventional crude oils. To face this challenge …

For decades, discussion of asphaltene structure focused primarily on molecular weight. Now
that it is widely accepted that asphaltene monomers are between∼ 250 and 1200 g/mol …

Previously, asphaltene science had been hindered by many significant uncertainties
regarding molecular weight, molecular structure, and nanocolloidal characteristics in …

Asphaltene structure is one of the most controversial topics in petroleum chemistry. The
controversy is centered on the organization of aromatic cores within asphaltene molecules …

Advances in high-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry
(FT-ICR MS) enable molecular-level characterization of ultracomplex asphaltene samples …

Molecular simulations have been used to estimate the properties of three-component
mixtures whose constituents were chosen to represent the chemical families found in paving …

In the colloidal hypothesis of vacuum residua and asphalt, micelles are assumed to have an
asphaltenic core with the greatest weight and aromaticity and an outer shell composed of …

Molecular characterization of asphaltenes by conventional analytical techniques is a
challenge because of their compositional complexity, high heteroatom content, and …

Twenty-five years ago, Boduszynski et al. conducted a comprehensive study of heavy oil
composition and concluded that crude oil composition increases gradually and continuously …