Molecule of the Month - Norhopane
By Paul Farrimond
The C29 hopane, 30-norhopane, is not only a member of the series of regular hopanes but also of a less common series that lack the methyl group at C-22 in the side chain, the 30-norhopanes.
Paul Farrimond
Director & Technical Advisor
Paul joined IGI in 2005 with a broad background in organic and petroleum geochemistry. His particular expertise is in molecular petroleum geochemistry, including oil-oil and oil-source rock correlation, petroleum biodegradation and source rock characterisation. He has over forty years of experience in biomarker geochemistry including the application of multivariate statistical techniques to molecular geochemical data. He has worked on oils and source rocks from many areas of the world, and his previous research experience has ranged from Precambrian rocks to modern sediments, soils, water and even bacteria!
Paul now works part time, providing technical advice and input to various aspects of IGI’s business, and is a Director of the company.
Background: Paul has a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Geology and Chemistry (1983) and a Ph.D. in Organic Geochemistry (1987) from the University of Bristol, UK. His Ph.D. and subsequent Post-Doctoral research (1987-1988) concerned the application of molecular geochemistry to understanding past sedimentary depositional environments and climate change. In 1988 he was appointed as a Lecturer in Geochemistry at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2002. He left academia for IGI in 2005 where he became a Director in 2011.
Paul now works part time, providing technical advice and input to various aspects of IGI’s business, and is a Director of the company.
Background: Paul has a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Geology and Chemistry (1983) and a Ph.D. in Organic Geochemistry (1987) from the University of Bristol, UK. His Ph.D. and subsequent Post-Doctoral research (1987-1988) concerned the application of molecular geochemistry to understanding past sedimentary depositional environments and climate change. In 1988 he was appointed as a Lecturer in Geochemistry at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2002. He left academia for IGI in 2005 where he became a Director in 2011.
Molecule of the Month - Gammacerane
This unusual hopane-like compound is recognised together with the hopanes in the m/z 191 mass chromatogram and was for many years used as a biomarker of hypersalinity due to its common high abundance in sediments deposited under such conditions.  However, a key paper by Sinninghe-Damsté et al.
Looking at Gas Chromatograms
with Paul Farrimond
Apologies for beginning this note with some history… When I worked on my Ph. D. project in the mid-1980s I witnessed the arrival of the first desk-top computers into our laboratory in Bristol.  They were expensive and clunky, and we only had a few.