that the larger and more complex the biomarker being investigated, the more useful it will be for providing geochemical information concerning source, maturity, extent of biodégradation, and depositional environments.
Conclusions This REPORT has introduced the concept of biomarkers and its application to organic geochemistry, particularly petroleum exploration. However, it is important to realize that the use of biomarkers is equally applicable to many other areas of geochemistry. These areas include the study of recent sediments and the association of functionalized biomarkers with specific inputs of organic material and the use of specific biomarkers as paleothermometers. In the latter approach, it has been found that the growth of certain organisms will vary with water temperature. Long-chain ketones are a characteristic feature of some of these organisms, and hence their concentrations in the sediments will also vary as a function of water temperature at the time.of deposition. Biomarkers have also been useful for fingerprinting the source of oil spills and other organic wastes and determining the source of this pollution. Biomarker determinations provide an intriguing challenge for the analyti-
cal chemist. Many common classes of biomarkers can be readily determined by GC/MS and multiple-ion detection. However, the availability of hybrid instruments such as the TSQ has introduced a number of alternative methods for biomarker determinations. Furthermore, the search for biomarkers can now be extended into the C40-C100 range with the TSQ operating in the parent mode. Until recently, most biomarkers identified in fossil fuels and related materials were hydrocarbons. However, researchers are increasingly interested in identifying sulfur- and nitrogen-containing species in these materials. Along with the search for novel higher molecular weight biomarkers, identifying these species will probably be a dominant part of geochemical research in the next decade. In addition to providing information on source, maturity, migration, and biodégradation, the correlation of specific biomarkers with particular types of depositional environments will continue to develop as another important area of geochemical research.
Geology; Freemann: San Francisco, 1979. Johnson, J.; Yost, R. Anal. Chem. 1985, 57, 758 A-768 A. Johnson, J. V.; Britton, E. D.; Yost, R. A. Anal. Chem. 1986,58,1325-29. Kondrat, R. W.; Cooks, R. G. Anal. Chem. 1978,50,81 A-92 A. Mackenzie, A. S. In Advances in Petroleum Geochemistry 1984; Brooks, J.; Welte, D. H , Eds.; Academic Press: London; Vol. 1, pp. 115-214. McLafferty, F. W. Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Wiley: New York, 1983, p. 506. Philp, R. P.; Lewis, C. A. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 1987,15, 363-95. Summons, R. E.; Powell, T. G. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 1987,51, 557-66. Tissot, B.; Welte, D. H. Petroleum Formation and Occurrence, 2nd éd.; Springer Verlag: Heidelberg, 1984. Yost, R.; Enke, C. Anal. Chem. 1979, 51, 1251 A-1264 A. Warburton, G. Α.; Zumberge, J. E. Anal. Chem. 1983,55,123-26.
Suggested reading Hoffmann, C. F.; Foster, C. B.; Powell, T. G.; Summons, R. E. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 1987,5./(10), 2681-99. Hunt, J. M. Petroleum Geochemistry and
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R. Paul Philp (standing) is a professor of petroleum geochemistry at the Uni versity of Oklahoma. He received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Sydney, Australia, in 1972 and has held research positions at the University of Bristol, the Uni versity of California at Berkeley, and the Commonwealth Scientific and In dustrial Research Organization, Syd ney, Australia. His research interests center around the application of or ganic chemistry to fossil fuel research, including the detection of biomarkers in oils, coals, and oil shales by GC/MS and the characterization of source rocks, coals, and oil shales using pyrolysis GC/MS. Jung-Nan Oung is a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma. He re ceived B.S. and M.S. degrees from the National Chung-Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan. He is developing novel methods for biomarker determi nations using tandem mass spectrom etry.
