Disulphur dichloride, S2Cl2
Disulphur dichloride is
just one of three sulphur chlorides, but is the only one mentioned by any of
the UK A level syllabuses. This is possibly because it is the one which is
formed when chlorine reacts with hot sulphur.
Disulphur dichloride is
a simple covalent liquid - orange and smelly!
The shape is
surprisingly difficult to draw convincingly! The atoms are all joined up in a
line - but twisted:
The reason for drawing
the shape is to give a hint about what sort of intermolecular attractions are
possible. There is no plane of symmetry in the molecule and that means that it
will have an overall permanent dipole.
The liquid will have van
der Waals dispersion forces and dipole-dipole attractions.
There are no ions in
disulphur dichloride and no mobile electrons - so it never conducts
electricity.
Disulphur dichloride
reacts slowly with water to produce a complex mixture of things including
hydrochloric acid, sulphur, hydrogen sulphide and various sulphur-containing
acids and anions (negative ions). There is no way that you can write a single
equation for this - and one would never be expected in an exam.
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