Kerogen as a Geometric Archive of the Chrysene Formalism: Macromolecular Aromatic Networks, Dimensional Signatures, and Metal Integration in Pre-Cambrian Shales

Abstract

Pre-Cambrian shale kerogens preserve macromolecular aromatic networks whose cluster size, bridge chemistry, dimensional organization and metal associations can be interrogated by solid-state NMR, hydropyrolysis, Raman spectroscopy and related methods. Under the Identification Hypothesis these networks are interpreted as the matured expression of the chrysene-derived architecture of the Chrysene Formalism: small fused-ring aromatic clusters linked by aliphatic and ether bridges, forming a nanoporous to mesoporous matrix with characteristic inter-cluster separations of 5-15 Angstroms and pi-stacking distances of 0.34-0.38 nm.

The same geometry supplies interstitial sites capable of coordinating metals and of organizing phosphorus. A metal ion may be caged between a pair of C2h-symmetric tetrasubstituted chrysene cores; transient energy input (for example ultraviolet absorption) can then drive rearrangement of the paired cores into polycyclic architectures of altered symmetry while preserving carbon count and metal-coordination motif, yielding structures compatible with geo-porphyrins of the heme and chlorophyll series.

Existing experimental data on mid-Proterozoic and older kerogens already lie inside the predicted geometric envelopes for cluster size, bridge chemistry and dimensional scales. While isomer-specific and atomistic confirmation of the rearrangement pathway remain beyond present resolution, the macromolecular aromatic networks of pre-Cambrian shales constitute a multi-scale geometric archive that furnishes independent, testable support for the Chrysene Formalism and documents the continuity from environmental network to endogenous cellular matrix.