Abstract
CURRENT schemes for explaining chain-growth in the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis1–4 do not permit the formation of an ethyl-branched hydrocarbon. We wish to report the identification of 3-ethylpentane in a hydrogenated Fischer–Tropsch synthesis product. A compound with this carbon skeleton has not hitherto been found in the product. Quantitative analyses by gas chromatography give a mole ratio of 2,3-dimethylpentane to 3-ethylpentane of 1.5. Weitkamp1 found that 2,3-dimethylpentane constituted 0.9 volume per cent of the hydrogenated C7-hydrocarbons from the synthesis product.
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References
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BLAUSTEIN, B., WENDER, I. & ANDERSON, R. Ethyl Branching in the Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis. Nature 189, 224–225 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/189224a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/189224a0
