Many petroleum related products are being described in this way in patents leading to a novel way of describing a material and restricting others from using those same materials in products of their own. See Exxon, Mobil, and Chevron patents such as:

 6,090,989 ;  6,210,559  ;  6,059,955  ;  6,846,778  ;  20050077208  ; and 20050077209

In this PDF file we have shown some of the details present in a ¹³C NMR spectrum on petroleum products such a base oils, gas oils, diesels, etc.

Details of NMR Analysis

There are some issues with the assignements of many of these patents … for more details on how NMR might be of use in the patent process contact John Edwards

¹H NMR has been used extensively by Process NMR Associates to determine PIONA analysis of Naphthas and to determine detailed aromatics breakdown in aromatics unit feeds, products, and intermediate products. Below are a few examples of naphtha chemistries that are observed and quantified by ¹H NMR.

Conjugated Olefin analysis is performed by a combination of HH-COSY and 1D ¹H NMR.

For more details contact John Edwards