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Yet another very useful and interesting compound group is that of the Alkanethiols, more simply known as "Thiols". The older name for this type of compound is Mercaptan. Thiols are said to be analogues of alcohols. This means that a particular thiol is structurally the same as a certain alcohol: The difference is oxygen being replaced with sulfur. The following diagram shows the structural similarities between alcohols and thiols.
Notice that properties of a similar looking pair of alcohol and Thiol have vastly different properties. Methanethiol is a gas at room temperature because the overall strength of intermolecular attractions is weaker than for methanol. This is due to the lower electronegativity of the sulfur atom which, in turn, results in weaker polar covalent bonding across the thiol group. Methanethiol molecules remain separated at room temperature because the strengths of intermolecular attractive forces are less than the kinetic energy (translational and rotational) of its molecules.
That's all for this post. As always, thank you for reading.
A Publication of http://ExcellenceInLearning.biz
Yet another very useful and interesting compound group is that of the Alkanethiols, more simply known as "Thiols". The older name for this type of compound is Mercaptan. Thiols are said to be analogues of alcohols. This means that a particular thiol is structurally the same as a certain alcohol: The difference is oxygen being replaced with sulfur. The following diagram shows the structural similarities between alcohols and thiols.
Notice that properties of a similar looking pair of alcohol and Thiol have vastly different properties. Methanethiol is a gas at room temperature because the overall strength of intermolecular attractions is weaker than for methanol. This is due to the lower electronegativity of the sulfur atom which, in turn, results in weaker polar covalent bonding across the thiol group. Methanethiol molecules remain separated at room temperature because the strengths of intermolecular attractive forces are less than the kinetic energy (translational and rotational) of its molecules.
That's all for this post. As always, thank you for reading.
A Publication of http://ExcellenceInLearning.biz
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