Isolation and identification of amino polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from coal-derived products

A method is described for the complete separation of the amino polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (amino-PAH) from complex coal-derived mixtures. After pre-fractionation, the use of derivatisation with pentafluoropropionic anhydride of the amino-PAH-rich isolate of an SRC-II heavy distillate coal liquid enabled the complete separation of this chemical class to be achieved by gel permeation chromatography. The fluoroamide derivatives were converted back to the original amino functionality by catalytic hydrolysis on neutral aluminium oxide. Subsequent high-resolution separation of individual components was obtained by capillary column gas chromatography, and specific compounds were determined by gas chromatographic retention data and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.