**2. The LmPy-GC/MSMS hyphenated system**

LmPy-GC/MSMS is a hyphenated analytical technique composed by: a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd-YAG; Nd: Y3Al5O12) laser source, an optical device containing the sample chamber, a transfer line from the optical device to the gas chromatography equipment coupled to a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (GC/MSMS) with a cryogenic entrapment (Liquid Nitrogen, −80°C) or Cold Trap in the PTV (programmed temperature vaporization) injector. **Figure 1** shows the schematic system of the LmPy-GC/MSMS technique and the Palynofacies and Organic Facies Laboratory (*LAFO*) hyphenated system located at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (*UFRJ*), Brazil. CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), Division of Petroleum Resources (Sydney, Australia) assembled this system exclusively for *LAFO/UFRJ* with financial support from *PETROBRAS*/Brazil.

The most common laser type used to emit light in the infrared spectrum (λ = 1064 nm) consists of an yttrium oxide and crystalline aluminum as a "host" doped with neodymium as a "guest." This device is known as the Nd-YAG laser and forms a variety of garnets. In the LmPy-GC/MSMS system, the Nd-YAG laser is the thermal energy source used to degrade large molecular-weight polymer carbon chains present in organic matter into smaller volatile species, under an oxygen-free environment. While the GC/MSMS technique separates and details the composition of molecular pyrolysis products (i.e., molecular fingerprinting). The association of these techniques has been useful to determine the composition or structure of original samples.
