Pyrosulfate
Sulfur dianion
In chemistry, disulfate or pyrosulfate is the anion with the molecular formula S
2O2−
7. Disulfate is the IUPAC name.
It has a dichromate-like structure and can be visualised as two corner-sharing SO4 tetrahedra, with a bridging oxygen atom.
In this anion, sulfur has an oxidation state of +6. Disulfate is the conjugate base of the hydrogen disulfate (hydrogen pyrosulfate) ion HS
2O−
7, which in turn is the conjugate base of disulfuric acid (pyrosulfuric acid).
01Role in sulfation
Industrial production of sulfate ester-based surfactants involves the reaction (sulfation) of fatty alcohols with sulfur trioxide. For example, dodecyl alcohol is sulfated using sulfur trioxide. The reaction proceeds by initial formation of the pyrosulfate:
- 2 SO3 + ROH → ROSO2−O−SO3H
- ROSO2−O−SO3H → ROSO3H + SO3
Several million tons are produced annually.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Pyrosulfate”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Disulfat-Ion.svg by NEUROtiker, Public domain
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