Naphthalene and methylated naphthalenes organic matter. But there are few reports about the are common constituents of petroleum and sedimentary characteristics of stable carbon isotopic composition of methylated naphthalenes accompanying thermal maturation. In this work, an immature black shale from the Du601 well in the Songliao Basin, northeast China, is employed to the simulation of hydrocarbon generation under semi-closed pyrolysis system. Alkylated naphthalenes in pyrolysates are separated and enriched to meet the demand for on-line determination of stable carbon isotope by using the two-step column chromatography. The variations in stable carbon isotopic compositions of individual methylated naphthalenes with maturity are investigated by compound-specific isotope analysis of oils expelled at progressive pyrolysis temperatures. The results show that similar t~13C values occur within both methylnaphthalenes (MNs) isomers and dimethylnaphthalenes (DMNs) isomers, their fi13C values being in the range of-29.5‰--29.3‰ and -30.9‰--30.5‰, respectively. It might be related to the nonspecific cracking of kerogen during the hydrocarbon generation. In addition, a large difference is observed between trimethylnaphthalenes (TMNs) isomers, varying from-36.8‰ to-31.1‰, which is attributed to source effect. The 013C value of 1,2,5-TMN in TMN isomers is most negative, falling between-36.8‰ and-35.6‰, suggesting that it is products of hopanoids derived from bacteria via degradation and aromatisation. The stable carbon isotopic fractionation of individual methylated naphthalenes caused by thermal maturation is between 0.8‰ and 1.4‰. As the δ13C values of individual mathylated naphthalenes are mainly controlled by source effect and hardly affected by maturity, the stable carbon isotopic curve of methylated naphthalenes is an effective implication of oil/source, oil/oil correlation.