• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.165-172
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• 2014

The distribution of basic nitrogen-containing compounds in three vacuum gas oils (VGOs) with different boiling ranges and their dewaxed oils from the lube base oil refining unit of a refinery were characterized by positive-ion electrospray ionization (ESI) Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). It turned out that the composition of basic nitrogen compounds in the samples varied significantly in DBE and carbon number, and the dominant basic N-containing compounds in these oil samples were N1 class species. $N_1O_1$, $N_1O_2$, and $N_2$ class species with much lower relative abundance were also identified. The composition of basic nitrogen compounds in VGOs and dewaxed VGOs were correlated with increased boiling point and varied in DBE and carbon numbers. The comparison of the analytical results between VGOs and dewaxed VGOs indicated that more basic N-containing compounds in VGO with low carbon number and small molecular weight tend to be removed by solvent refining in lube base oil processing.