Hello all:

 

I am unsure if my answer to the following answer is correct. Could someone please confirm or refute it?

 

Thank you!

 

P.S.: If someone could tell me how to enter chemical formulas with LaTex without the italics, I would appreciate it as well!

 

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1. What is the oxidation number of S in sulfolane [math]C_4 H_8 O_2 [/math] ?

 

Structure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sulfolane-2D-skeletal.png

 

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Explanation for my work:

 

My answer is +4 for S's oxidation number.

 

According to the image, S is double bonded to the two oxygens so the formula must be [math]C_4 H_8 SO_2 [/math].

 

Therefore, I treated the [math]C_4 H_8 [/math] as a nonpolar hydrocarbon part so I assigned C and H oxidation numbers of -2 and +1 respectively.

 

The entire molecule is neutral so I concluded that with [math]O_2[/math] being -4 in total (-2/O atom), S must be +4.

seems to make sense to me... i'm not an expert on oxidation numbers for organics though... i do them for simpler stuff

Thanks for your reply!

 

I'm just wondering: Would sulfolane be a hypervalent compound?

 

I had some trouble drawing its Lewis structure, especially for the electrons surrounding S.

Yes. it would be a hypervalent structure, as the sulfur has six bonds to it. Since each bond is composed of 2 electrons, the sulfur has 12 electrons around it.