Structural elucidation of asphalt using NMR spectroscopy and GPC fractionation with laser desorption mass spectrometry

TL;DRAbstract

Asphalt is a very complex mixture containing polyaromatic hydrocarbons bearing long chain aliphatics and few functional groups including phenols, carboxylic acids, amines, and sulfides.Vanadium, nickel, and iron are also found in trace amounts.When asphalt is used in pavement it is exposed to environmental weathering which changes it chemically and hence, physically, causing it to harden.This hardening makes the asphalt more susceptible to cracking and has been thought to be caused mainly by the increase of polar interactions between asphalt molecules.This increase would be due to the production of additional polar functional groups by air oxidation which is a free-radical process called autoxidation.For this reason, it is important to be able to easily identify functional groups in asphalt and to determine how they are affected by weathering.Examination of functional groups before and after asphalt pavement weathering has been accomplished by NMR spectroscopy.Phenols have been derivit

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