| Reactions of Sulfur |
 Reactions with water |
| Sulfur will not react with water under standard conditions. |
| Reactions with air |
| Sulfur burns in air to form sulfur(IV) dioxide. |
S8(s) + 8O2(g) 8SO2(g) |
| Reactions with halogens |
| Sulfur reacts with fluorine and burns to form sulfur(VI) hexafluoride.
|
| S8(s) + 24F2(g)8SF6(l) |
| Molten sulfur will react with molten sulfur to form disulfur dichloride. |
| S8(s) + 4Cl2(g)4S2Cl2(l) |
| With excess chlorine and in the presence of a catalyst it is possible to make a mixture containing and equilibrium of sulfur(II) chloride and
disulfur dichloride.
|
S2Cl2(l) + Cl2 2SCl2(l) |
| Reactions with acids |
| Sulphur does not react with dilute non-oxidizing acids. |
| Reactions with bases |
| Sulfur reacts with hot aqueous potassium hydroxide to form sulfide and thiosulfate species.
|
| S8(s) + 6KOH(aq)2K2S3 + K2S2O3 + 3H2O(l) |
| |
| Reduction Potentials |
| Balanced half-reaction |
E0 / V
|
| S(s) + 2e-S2- |
-0.476 |
| S(s) + H+ + 2e-HS- |
-0.065 |
| S(s) + 2H+ + 2e-H2S(g) |
+0.141 |
| SO42- + 4H+ + 2e-H2SO3 + H2O
|
+0.172 |
| SO42-- + 4H2O + 2e-SO3- + 2OH- |
-0.93 |
| SO42- + 8H+ + 6e-S(s) + 4H2O
|
+0.357 |
| HSO4- + 7H+ + 6e-S(s) + 4H2O
|
+0.339 |
| SO42- + 8H+ + 8e-S2- + 4H2O
|
+0.149 |
| SO42- + 9H+ + 8e-HS- + 4H2O
|
+0.252 |
| SO42- + 10H+ + 8e-H2S(g) + 4H2O
|
+0.303 |
| HSO4- + 9H+ + 8e-H2S(g) + 4H2O
|
+0.289 |
| S2O82- + 2e-2SO42- |
+2.01 |
| S2O82-- + 2H+ + 2e-2HSO4- |
+2.123 |
| S4O62- + 2e-2S2O32--
|
+0.08 |
| S4O62- + 12H+ + 10e-4S(s) + 6H2O
|
+0.416 |
| S2O62- + 2e-2SO332- |
+0.026 |
| SO2(g) + 4H+ + 4e-S(s) + 2H2O
|
+0.451 |
| H2SO3 + 4H+ + 4e-S(s) + 3H2O
|
+0.450 |
| 2SO32- + 6H+ + 4e-S2O32- + 3H2O
|
+0.705 |
| 2HSO3- + 4H+ + 4e-S2O32- + 3H2O
|
+0.491 |
| 4HSO3- + 8H+ + 6e-S4O62- + 6H2O1
|
+0.58 |
| 4H2SO3 + 4H+ + 6e-S4O62- + 6H2O
|
+0.509 |
| SO32- + 6H+ + 6e-S2- + 3H2O
|
+0.231 |
| S22- + 2H+ + 2e-2HS- |
+0.298 |
| S22- + 2e-2S2- |
-0.524 |
| S32- + 3H+ + 4e-3HS- |
+0.097 |
| S42- + 4H+ + 6e-4HS- |
+0.033 |
| S52- + 5H+ + 8e-5HS- |
+0.003 |