scherz0 Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 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! --- 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 --- 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hermanntrude Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 seems to make sense to me... i'm not an expert on oxidation numbers for organics though... i do them for simpler stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scherz0 Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big314mp Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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