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in positive-ion APPI (APPI-P) mode (Radović et al. 2018). Notably, the majority of
chemical species in this sample belong to non-hydrocarbon compounds, such as the
alkylated sulfur containing benzothiophenic (DBE 6) and dibenzothiophenic (DBE
9) analogs, with averaged molecular mass higher than 500 Da. Given the fact that
typical GC-MS-based methods can detect only a limited range of thiophenic species
with molecular masses up to ~250 Da (Andersson and Schade 2004), the importance of FTICR-MS for source and spill characterization of heavy, unconventional
oils becomes evident.
Fig. 15.3 (a) Compound class composition of heavy, biodegraded oil sand bitumen from the
Peace River deposit. Note the predominance of non-hydrocarbon species, such as the high molecular weight sulfur heteroaromatic compounds (b), which, in a case of a spill, could not be characterized efficiently using conventional, gas chromatography-based methods. (Reprinted from Radović
et al. (2018), with permission from Elsevier)
J. R. Radović et al.