Thiourea dioxide or thiox is an

organosulfur compound Organosulfur compounds are organic compounds that contain sulfur. They are often associated with foul odors, but many of the sweetest compounds known are organosulfur derivatives, e.g., saccharin. Nature abounds with organosulfur compounds—sulf ...

that is used in the

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...

industry. It functions as a

reducing agent In chemistry, a reducing agent (also known as a reductant, reducer, or electron donor) is a chemical species that "donates" an electron to an (called the , , , or ). Examples of substances that are commonly reducing agents include the Earth met ...

. It is a white solid, and exhibits tautomerism.

Structure

The structure of thiourea dioxide depends on its environment. Crystalline and gaseous thiourea dioxide adopts a structure with C_2v

symmetry Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definiti ...

. Selected

bond length In molecular geometry, bond length or bond distance is defined as the average distance between nuclei of two bonded atoms in a molecule. It is a transferable property of a bond between atoms of fixed types, relatively independent of the rest of ...

s: S-C = 186, C-N = 130, and S-O = 149 pm. The sulfur center is pyramidal. The C-S bond length is more similar to that of a single bond. For comparison, the C=S bond in thiourea is 171 pm. The long C-S bond indicates the absence of C=S character. Instead the bonding is described with a significant contribution from a dipolar resonance structure with multiple bonding between C and N. One consequence of this bonding is the planarity of the nitrogen centers. In the presence of water or

DMSO Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is an organosulfur compound with the formula ( CH3)2. This colorless liquid is the sulfoxide most widely used commercially. It is an important polar aprotic solvent that dissolves both polar and nonpolar compounds ...

, thiourea dioxide converts to the

tautomer Tautomers () are structural isomers (constitutional isomers) of chemical compounds that readily interconvert. The chemical reaction interconverting the two is called tautomerization. This conversion commonly results from the relocation of a hy ...

, a

sulfinic acid Sulfinic acids are oxoacids of sulfur with the structure RSO(OH). In these organosulfur compounds, sulfur is pyramidal. Structure and properties Sulfinic acids RSO2H are about 1000x more acidic than the corresponding carboxylic acid RCO2H. Sul ...

, (H₂N)HN=CS(O)(OH), named formamidine sulfinic acid.

Synthesis

Thiourea dioxide was first prepared in 1910 by the English chemist Edward de Barry Barnett. Thiourea dioxide is prepared by the

oxidation Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or ...

thiourea Thiourea () is an organosulfur compound with the formula and the structure . It is structurally similar to urea (), except that the oxygen atom is replaced by a sulfur atom (as implied by the ''thio-'' prefix); however, the properties of urea a ...

with

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 ...

.D. Schubart "Sulfinic Acids and Derivatives" in ''Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry'', 2012, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. :(NH₂)₂CS + 2H₂O₂ → (NH)(NH₂)CSO₂H + 2H₂O The mechanism of the oxidation has been examined. An aqueous solution of thiourea dioxide has a pH about 6.5 at which thiourea dioxide is hydrolyzed to

urea Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid. Urea serves an important ...

and

sulfoxylic acid Sulfoxylic acid (H2SO2) (also known as hyposulfurous acid or sulfur dihydroxide) is an unstable oxoacid of sulfur in an intermediate oxidation state between hydrogen sulfide and dithionous acid. It consists of two hydroxy groups attached to a sulf ...

. It has been found that at pH values of less than 2, thiourea and hydrogen peroxide react to form a

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 ...

species. It is therefore convenient to keep the pH between 3 and 5 and the temperature below 10

°C The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The d ...

. It can also be prepared by oxidation of thiourea with chlorine dioxide.Rábai, G.; Wang, R. T.; Kustin, Kenneth (1993). "Kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of thiourea by chlorine dioxide" International Journal of Chemical Kinetics. Volume 25: 53–62. The quality of the product can be assessed by titration with

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...

Uses

Thiourea dioxide is used in reductive

bleaching Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...

s. Thiourea dioxide has also been used for the reduction of

aromatic In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...

nitroaldehydes and nitro

ketones In organic chemistry, a ketone is a functional group with the structure R–C(=O)–R', where R and R' can be a variety of carbon-containing substituents. Ketones contain a carbonyl group –C(=O)– (which contains a carbon-oxygen double b ...

to nitroalcohols.

References

{{Reflist Sulfinic acids Thioureas Amidines Reducing agents Substances discovered in the 1910s