kerogen, complex waxy mixture of hydrocarbon compounds that is the primary organic component of oil shale. Kerogen consists mainly of paraffin hydrocarbons, though the solid mixture also incorporates nitrogen and sulfur. Kerogen is insoluble in water and in organic solvents such as benzene or alcohol. Upon heating under pressure, however, the large paraffin molecules break down into recoverable gaseous and liquid substances resembling petroleum. This property makes oil shale a potentially important source of synthetic crude oil.
Like petroleum, kerogen is thought to have originated from compacted organic material, such as algae and various forms of plant life, that accumulated at the bottom of ancient lakes and seas and was buried at great depths over long periods of geologic time. It is thought by many geochemists to be the source material from which petroleum eventually was generated, though it may have been formed simultaneously with petroleum from the original organic matter. The name was first applied to the carbonaceous matter found in oil-bearing shales in Scotland.