Friday, September 25, 2009

Petroleomics, petroleome, and their counterparts in protein chemistry

The term petroleomics refers to the chemical study of petroleum including its physicochemical characterization and the identification of its molecular constituents. The noun petroleomics reminds us of the word proteomics in protein chemistry standing for the study of proteins including their molecular and supramolecular structures and functions.
The term petroleome refers to the entire amount of a petroleum sample. The goal is to know the complete chemical composition of petroleomes. Again, an analogous word for a similar concept in protein chemistry comes to mind: proteome, composed from protein and genome.
The word petroleomics was coined by Alan G. Marshall at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University, where he and his group is working on analytical methods for the compositional characterization and molecular description of petroleum fractions such as asphaltenes [1].

Keywords: petrochemistry, word analogy

References and literature
[1] Celia Henry Arnaud: Digging Into AsphaltenesMass spectrometry uncovers chemical details of petroleum's most recalcitrant fraction. Chemical & Engineering News September 21, 2009, Volume 87, Number 38, pp. 12-17.
[2] Oliver C. Mullins, Eric Y. Sheu, Ahmed Hammani and Alan G. Marshall: Asphaltenes, Heavy Oils, and Petroleomics. Springer, New York, 2007. DOI: 10.1007/0-387-68903-6 (PDF versions of all chapters).
[3] Oliver C. Mullins: Petroleomics and Structure-Function Relations of Crude Oils and Asphaltenes (Chapter 1 in [2]).
DOI: 10.1007/0-387-68903-6_1.

1 comment:

  1. A team from the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) succeeded in producing proteins with new mechanical properties through the combination of two "parent" protein fragments Rapid.

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