Sulfur

Some of these questions are explained in the assigned readings, so please make sure you have done the reading before working out your answers.

1. Draw the structure of the molecule of which commercially available elemental sulfur mainly consists, and assign it to its proper point group.
2. What is the color of commercially available elemental sulfur, and what is the origin of that color?
3. Explain what is the role of titanocene dichloride in the preparation of heptasulfur by writing a balanced equation for the reaction.
4. How is "plastic sulfur" prepared?
5. What is the molecular basis of the chemical process invented by Charles Goodyear in 1839?
6. Of what is commercial "sulfurdichloride" a mixture?
7. Examine the structures of S₁₀ and S₁₂. How do the bond angles in these rings compare to those in S₈?
8. Consult the work of Barker et al. to discover the heat of formation of S₄N₄. What is the final state of sulfur for the chemical equation studied in that work pertaining to S₄N₄?
9. A modern molecular orbital calculation yields the result that the transannular S···S bond interaction in S₄N₄ corresponds to a bond order of 0.3. Examine the valence molecular orbitals of S₄N₄ and identify which ones are principally responsible for this weak but non-negligible sulfur-sulfur bonding. Note that the valence molecular orbitals in this calculation are those numbered 22-46.