Syntheses of very long chain alkanes terminating in polydeuterium-labelled end-groups and some very large single-branched alkanes including Y-shaped structures

Five alkanes containing very long chains have been synthesised: two deuterium-containing straight chain alkanes C12D25–(CH2)m–CHDC11H23 (A, m=144 and B, m=192); two Y-shaped alkanes CH3(CH2)119CHR(CH2)117CH3 [C, R=–(CH2)60CH3 and D, R=–(CH2)194CH3 almost symmetrical molecules; and one alkane with an asymmetrically branched methyl group attached to the long chain E, CH3(CH2)191CH(CH3)(CH2)98CH3. Compound D(C434H870) is the largest hydrocarbon to have been characterised in this work.