DEVELOPMENT OF TANDEM MASS SPECTROMETRIC METHODS FOR CHARACTERIZING ASPHALTENES AND DIFFERENTIATING SMALL ORGANIC ISOMERS

High-resolution mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) are powerful tools for the characterization of the molecular structures of components of both simple and complex mixtures. MS and MS/MS have played key roles in many fields, including proteomics, metabolomics, and petroleomics. This thesis focuses on the development of tandem mass spectrometric methods for the structural characterization of asphaltenes and small isomeric molecules. In addition, this thesis also presents a method to address a sampling bias in asphaltene analysis.