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Studies on the High Pressure Hydrogenolysis of the Organic Matter from a Muck Soil
Author(s) -
Felbeck George T.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1965.03615995002900010016x
Subject(s) - hydrogenolysis , chemistry , muck , benzene , organic matter , organic chemistry , hydrocarbon , hydrolysis , fraction (chemistry) , catalysis , geology , soil science
About 80% (on the basis of C content) of the organic matter from a muck soil was degraded by a combination of acid hydrolysis and high pressure hydrogenolysis. Approximately 31% of the total organic C was dissolved by hydrolysis with dilute H 2 SO 4 at 90 C. Hydrogenolysis rendered 47% of the total organic C soluble in benzene, with the remainder either converted to a gaseous form (1%) or to an insoluble residue (21%). Particular interest was given to the fraction soluble in benzene as it was thought to represent the breakdown products of the skeletal structure of the nonhydrolyzable fraction of the organic matter. A normal hydrocarbon of about C 25 length, representing 1.2% of the total organic matter carbon, was isolated from the hydrogenation products. From these observations and other data it is suggested that part of the nonhydrolyzable organic fraction of a muck soil representing the source of the normal C 25 hydrocarbon consisted of chains of unsaturated, O‐containing heterocyclic compounds connected by a‐a′ C‐C bonds. Part of the nonhydrolyzable N in the organic matter possibly exists in the tertiary amine state, and it is probably protected from attack by steric hindrance.