Abstract
THE organic matter in coal consists largely of a macromolecular material of complex and variable composition. When coal is pyrolysed, a large fraction is converted to char, and a number of complex aromatic compounds are formed. Because of the extensive chemical change which takes place during this process, however, it is not clear what relationship the products have to the original structure of coal. Many workers have used oxidation procedures to degrade coal to simpler species which are more readily interpreted in terms of coal structure. Oxidation products, however, were in general studied by limited classical organic chemistry methods for separation and identification of products1,2. To date the only aromatic acids definitely identified have been the carboxylic acids of benzene3,4. Commonly used oxidants have been HNO3, HNO3–K2Cr2O7, KMnO4, O2 and H2O2–O3 in conditions for drastic degradation of aromatic rings. On the basis of results of oxidation of coal with a selective oxidant, NaOCl, Chakrabartty and Berkowitz have suggested5 that coal has a largely non-aromatic “tricycloalkane or polyamantane” structure. They pointed out that no evidence for aromatic compounds other than benzene derivatives was found in their oxidation product. Our experimental data do not support this view but rather the generally accepted idea that coal is predominantly an aromatic material.
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HAYATSU, R., SCOTT, R., MOORE, L. et al. Aromatic units in coal. Nature 257, 378–380 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/257378a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/257378a0
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