Arborane

Arborane is a class of pentacyclic triterpene consisting of organic compounds with four 6-membered rings and one 5-membered ring. Arboranes are thought to be derived from arborinols, a class of natural cyclic triterpenoids typically produced by flowering plants. Thus arboranes are used as a biomarker for angiosperms and cordaites. Arborane is a stereoisomer of a compound called fernane, the diagenetic product of fernene and fernenol. Because aborinol and fernenol have different biological sources, the ratio of arborane/fernane in a sample can be used to reconstruct a record for the relative abundances of different plants.

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