Bismuth(III) sulfide () is a

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

of bismuth and

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 ...

. It occurs in nature as the mineral bismuthinite.

Synthesis

Bismuth(III) sulfide can be prepared by reacting a bismuth(III)

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

with

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 ...

: : 2 Bi³⁺ + 3 H₂S → Bi₂S₃ + 6 H⁺ Bismuth (III) sulfide can also be prepared by the reaction of elemental bismuth and elemental sulfur in an evacuated silica tube at 500 °C for 96 hours. : 2 Bi + 3 S → Bi₂S₃

Properties

Bismuth(III) sulfide is isostructural with stibnite (stibnite is one of the forms of

antimony(III) sulfide Antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) is found in nature as the crystalline mineral stibnite and the amorphous red mineral (actually a mineraloid) metastibnite. It is manufactured for use in safety matches, military ammunition, explosives and fireworks. It ...

). Bismuth atoms are in two different environments, both of which have 7 coordinate Bismuth atoms, 4 in a near planar rectangle and three more distant making an irregular 7-coordination group. It can react with acids to produce the odoriferous

gas. Bismuth(III) sulfide may be produced in the body by the reaction of the common gastrointestinal drug bismuth subsalicylate with naturally occurring sulfides; this causes temporary black tongue when the sulfides are in the mouth and black feces when the sulfides are in the colon.

Uses

It is used as a starting material to produce many other bismuth compounds.Pradyot Patnaik. ''Handbook of Inorganic Chemicals''. McGraw-Hill, 2002,

References

{{Sulfides

Bismuth sulfide Bismuth(III) sulfide () is a chemical compound of bismuth and sulfur. It occurs in nature as the mineral bismuthinite. Synthesis Bismuth(III) sulfide can be prepared by reacting a bismuth(III) salt with hydrogen sulfide: : 2 Bi3+ + 3 H2S → Bi2S ...

Sulfides