Abstract: Mass spectrometry has been widely used in petroleum chemistry. With the continuous improvement of mass resolution, the use of high/ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry to study the detailed composition of petroleum has become an important direction of petrochemical research. Significant progress has been made in the field of petroleum molecular composition research. Based on the collision-induced dissociation technology, the parent structure and side chain structure of the compounds can be explored on the basis of high-resolution mass spectrometry, so as to realize the fine characterization of the molecular structure of petroleum, and provide a scientific basis for petroleum molecular chemistry and heavy oil hydrogenation process. The research progress of collision-induced dissociation on the characterization of petroleum molecular structure is reviewed, including the principle of collision-induced dissociation, the calculation of dissociation energy and the control of collision energy, as well as the application of collision-induced dissociation characterization of model compounds and real petroleum molecules. Through collision-induced dissociation characterization, the fine structure of petroleum molecules can be deeply understood in order to guide the related processes of heavy oil hydrogenation and provide references for the development and optimization of catalysts.

Key words: Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectrometry, collision-induced dissociation, molecular structure, petroleomics