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Sulfur (also spelled sulphur in British English) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with the chemical formula S 8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow, crystalline solid at room temperature.
The important sulfur cycle is a biogeochemical cycle in which the sulfur moves between rocks, waterways and living systems. It is important in geology as it affects many minerals and in life because sulfur is an essential element (), being a constituent of many proteins and cofactors, and sulfur compounds can be used as oxidants or reductants in microbial respiration. [1]
In the most common type of industrial "curing" or hardening and strengthening of natural rubber, elemental sulfur is heated with the rubber to the point that chemical reactions form disulfide bridges between isoprene units of the polymer. This process, patented in 1843, made rubber a major industrial product, especially in automobile tires.
A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. [1] When chemical reactions occur, the atoms are rearranged and the reaction is accompanied by an energy change as new products are generated.
Sulfation is the chemical reaction that entails the addition of SO 3 group. In principle, many sulfations would involve reactions of sulfur trioxide (SO 3). In practice, most sulfations are effected less directly. Regardless of the mechanism, the installation of a sulfate-like group on a substrate leads to substantial changes.
Sulfur shares the chalcogen group with oxygen, selenium, and tellurium, and it is expected that organosulfur compounds have similarities with carbon–oxygen, carbon–selenium, and carbon–tellurium compounds. A classical chemical test for the detection of sulfur compounds is the Carius halogen method.
Reactions of oxidation of sulfide to sulfate and elemental sulfur (incorrectly balanced). The electrons (e −) liberated from these oxidation reactions, which release chemical energy, are then used to fix carbon into organic molecules. The elements that become oxidized are shown in pink, those that become reduced in blue, and the electrons in ...
Sulfur can also serve as both an electron donor and electron acceptor by microorganisms is disproportionation reactions. For example, Acidianus ambivalens uses sulfur oxygenase reductase (SOR) to convert elemental sulfur to sulfate, thiosulfate, and hydrogen sulfide through disproportionation. [ 16 ]