Hydrogen thioperoxide, also called oxadisulfane or sulfur hydride hydroxide, is the chemical with the structure H–S–O–H. It can be considered as the simple
sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
-substituted analog of the common
hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution (3%†...
(H–O–O–H) chemical, and as the simplest
hydrogen chalcogenide Hydrogen chalcogenides (also chalcogen hydrides or hydrogen chalcides) are binary compounds of hydrogen with chalcogen atoms (elements of group 16: oxygen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium). Water, the first chemical compound in this series ...
containing more than one type of chalcogen. The chemical has been described as the "missing link" between hydrogen peroxide and
hydrogen disulfide
Hydrogen disulfide is the inorganic compound with the formula H2S2. This hydrogen chalcogenide is a pale yellow volatile liquid with a camphor-like odor. It decomposes readily to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and elemental sulfur.R. Steudel "Inorgani ...
(H–S–S–H),
though it is substantially less stable than either of the other two. It is the
inorganic
In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemist ...
parent structure of the
sulfenic acid
In chemistry, a sulfenic acid is an organosulfur compound and oxoacid with the general formula . It is the first member of the family of organosulfur oxoacids, which also include sulfinic acids () and sulfonic acids (), respectively. The base ...
class of
organic compound
In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. The ...
s (R–S–O–H) and also the oxa
disulfide
In biochemistry, a disulfide (or disulphide in British English) refers to a functional group with the structure . The linkage is also called an SS-bond or sometimes a disulfide bridge and is usually derived by the coupling of two thiol groups. In ...
linkage (R
1–S–O–R
2), where "R" is any organic structure. Sulfur is present in
oxidation state
In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical charge of an atom if all of its bonds to different atoms were fully ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons) of an atom in a chemical compound. C ...
0.
Formation
Hydrogen thioperoxide has been synthesized in labs by
photolysis
Photodissociation, photolysis, photodecomposition, or photofragmentation is a chemical reaction in which molecules of a chemical compound are broken down by photons. It is defined as the interaction of one or more photons with one target molecule. ...
of a mixture of
ozone
Ozone (), or trioxygen, is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , breaking down in the lo ...
and
hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable, with trace amounts in ambient atmosphere having a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. The unde ...
frozen in
argon
Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as abu ...
at 8
K and by
pyrolysis
The pyrolysis (or devolatilization) process is the thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures, often in an inert atmosphere. It involves a change of chemical composition. The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements ''py ...
of
di-''tert''-butyl sulfoxide.
Yet another synthesis is by an electric discharge through water and sulfur.
[
In the interstellar medium there is a hypothesis that hydrogen thioperoxide is formed in a reaction of ]sulfur monoxide
Sulfur monoxide is an inorganic compound with formula . It is only found as a dilute gas phase. When concentrated or condensed, it converts to S2O2 (disulfur dioxide). It has been detected in space but is rarely encountered intact otherwise.
Str ...
with the trihydrogen cation
The trihydrogen cation or protonated molecular hydrogen is a cation (positive ion) with formula , consisting of three hydrogen nuclei ( protons) sharing two electrons.
The trihydrogen cation is one of the most abundant ions in the universe. It ...
, dihydrogen and an electron. Another possible route, is sulfur monoxide reacting with atomic hydrogen to form HOS and HSO which in turn can add another hydrogen atom. However this mechanism probably needs a dust grain to take away excess energy.
Properties
Hydrogen thioperoxide molecules have a gauche conformation
In chemistry, conformational isomerism is a form of stereoisomerism in which the isomers can be interconverted just by rotations about formally single bonds (refer to figure on single bond rotation). While any two arrangements of atoms in a molec ...
. They are unsymmetrical, but have a low barrier to convert from left-hand to right-hand forms, so that the molecule can tunnel between the forms.
Reactions
Two molecules of hydrogen thioperoxide can undergo cyclocondensation to form sulfinothioic acid HS(=O)SH and water.
Hydrosulfide can react with HSOH to yield disulfane HSSH.
References
{{Sulfur compounds
Peroxides
Sulfur compounds
Hydrogen compounds