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Appearance Vivid, yellow, translucent crystals | ||
How to pronounce octasulfur
Octasulfur is an inorganic chemical with the chemical formula S
8. It is a yellow solid, and is odourless and tasteless. It is the most common allotrope of sulfur. It is a major industrial chemical that occurs widely in nature.
Contents
Nomenclature
The name octasulfur is the most commonly used; the preferred IUPAC name is cyclo-octasulfur. The compound is systematically named octathiocane, and cyclo-octasulfur. It is also the final member of the thiocane heterocylic series, where every carbon is substituted with a sulfur atom.
Structure
The compound adopts a crown conformation with D4d point group symmetry. The S–S bond lengths are equal, at about 2.05 Å. Octasulfur crystallizes in three distinct polymorphs: rhombohedral, and two monoclinic forms, of which only two are stable at standard conditions. The rhombohedral crystal form is the accepted standard. The remaining polymorph is only stable between 96 and 115 °C at 100 kPa. Octasulfur forms several allotropes: α-Sulfur, β-sulfur, γ-sulfur, λ-sulfur.
λ-Sulfur is the liquid form of octasulfur, from which γ-sulfur can be crystallised by quenching. If λ-sulfur is crystallised slowly, it will revert to β-sulfur. Since it must have been heated over 115 °C, neither crystallised β-sulfur or γ-sulfur will be pure. The only known method of obtaining pure γ-sulfur is by crystallising from solution.
Octasulfur easily forms large crystals, which are typically yellow and are somewhat translucent.
Production and reactions
It is typically not produced as S8 per se. It is the main (99%) component of elemental sulfur, which is recovered from volcanic sources and is a major product of the Claus Process, associated with petroleum refineries.