Formula H2SO3 Molar mass 82.07 g/mol | IUPAC ID Sulfurous acid | |
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Sulfurous acid (also sulphurous acid) is the chemical compound with the formula H2SO3. There is no evidence that sulfurous acid exists in solution, but the molecule has been detected in the gas phase. The conjugate bases of this elusive acid are, however, common anions, bisulfite (or hydrogen sulfite) and sulfite. Sulfurous acid is an intermediate species in the formation of acid rain from sulfur dioxide.
Raman spectra of solutions of sulfur dioxide in water show only signals due to the SO2 molecule and the bisulfite ion, HSO−
3. The intensities of the signals are consistent with the following equilibrium:
17O NMR spectroscopy provided evidence that solutions of sulfurous acid and protonated sulfites contains a mixture of isomers, which is in equilibrium:
[H–OSO2]− ⇌ [H–SO3]−When trying to concentrate the solution by evaporation to produce waterless sulfurous acid it will decompose (reversing the forming reaction). In cooling down a clathrate SO2 · 5.75 H2O will crystallise which decomposes again at 7 °C. Thus sulfurous acid H2SO3 cannot be isolated.
Uses
Aqueous solutions of sulfur dioxide, which sometimes are referred to as sulfurous acid, are used as reducing agents and as disinfectants, as are solutions of bisulfite and sulfite salts. They are oxidised to sulfuric acid or sulfate by accepting another oxygen atom.
They are also mild bleaches, and are used for materials which may be damaged by chlorine-containing bleaches.