Composition of Hydrocarbons in Lipid Fractions of Mass Species in the Phytoplankton of the Azov and Black Seas

Abstract—It is proposed to use data on the hydrocarbon content in phytoplankton contained in a studied water sample to calculate the biogenic background of hydrocarbons, without which the assessment of the degree of oil pollution of aquatic ecosystems would be incorrect. Algae were grown in sterile flasks to accumulate the biomass required for analysis. The amount of hydrocarbons isolated from lipid fractions of different algal species by thin layer chromatography varied from 0.004 to 0.007 mg per 1 mg of phytoplankton. The lipid content varied from 4.5 to 6.2% in different phytoplankton species; the concentration of hydrocarbons was 8–11% of the total lipid weight. Depending on the phytoplankton species, the composition of paraffin hydrocarbons was dominated by C₁₇, C₂₁, C₂₅, C₂₉, and C₃₁ odd n-alkanes.