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Carbon-13 NMR Study of the Stereochemistry of Steranes from Oil Shale of the Green River Formation (Eocene)

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Abstract

THE presence of steranes and triterpanes in oils and sediments is especially significant as they possess the appropriate chemical stability for preservation throughout terrestrial diagenesis. They also contain a high degree of molecular order in their carbon skeleton and so the probability of their being synthesized by abiological processes is minimized. The high level of latent information in the structure and stereochemistry of these compounds renders them ideal biological markers1–6.

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BALOGH, B., WILSON, D. & BURLINGAME, A. Carbon-13 NMR Study of the Stereochemistry of Steranes from Oil Shale of the Green River Formation (Eocene). Nature 233, 261–263 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/233261a0

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