What are the research questions for asphaltenes in the working group of analytical chemistry at the University of Rostock? The real molecular structure of asphaltenes is still not completely understood. We know, that asphaltenes are a complex mixture of non-volatile. high molecular organic compounds with various aromatic ring systems and a high content of heteroatoms. The chemical characterization of these high complex substances is an analytical challenge. One approach to characterize the asphaltenes comes from the research field of Petroleomics - the investigation of crude oil and its fractions on molecular level with high resolution mass spectrometry. The coupling of a thermo balance (TG) with a high resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FT-ICR MS) enables the temperature-resolved investigation of the evolved gas mixture of desorbed or pyrolysed substances. Because of the ultra-high mass resolution and the high mass accuracy of the FT-ICR MS, sum formulae can be calculated from the measured mass and the measured species can be investigated on molecular level. MS-MS fragmentation reveals further insights into the core structures of the asphaltenes.