Classes of Sulphides

There are mainly three classes according to which sulphides can be understood, these include organic sulphides which are also known as thioethers, inorganic sulphides and phosphine sulphides. Inorganic sulphides can be described as the ones which are ionic compounds and contain a sulphide ion that is negatively charged. Such compounds can be considered fairly weak acid hydrogen sulphide’s salts. Now, organic sulphides can be referred to as those compounds wherein there is a covalent bond between a sulphur atom and two organic groups. Lastly, the formation of phosphine sulphides takes place through the reaction between sulphur and organic phosphines wherein sulphur is associated with phosphorous through a bond having both ionic and covalent properties. Thus, with this, the classes of sulphides can be understood in a better manner. 

Metal Sulphides can be described as a significant group of ore minerals that help in the formation of charge materials for most of the processes to produce metals that are non-ferrous all over the globe. This was just to give a brief idea about metal sulphides, as we move forward, we shall focus on topics such as the preparation of sulphides, the structure of sulphides and the composition of sulphides. 

Preparation of Sulphides

The process of preparation of sulphides may take place through the reaction of alkali metals for example sodium sulphide along with alkyl halides. For the preparation of dialkyl sulphides, the reaction takes place between an alkyl sulphide’s alkali metal salts and another molecule of an alkyl halide. 

The reaction can be depicted as – 

RSNa + R’CH2X  → R’CH2SR + NaX

In an alternate method, the reaction between alkyl halides may take place along with thiourea for the formation of sulphide upon hydrolysis. 

Thus, with the help of the above description, one can learn about the process of preparing sulphides. 

Structure and composition – Sulphides 

The structure of organic sulphides can be described as wherein the atom of sulphur has a covalent bond with two organic groups. To understand this better, one can see how the formation of phosphine sulphides takes place through the reaction of sulphur with organic phosphines wherein the sulphur atom gets associated with the phosphorous through a bond having both ionic properties as well as covalent. 

Now for understanding the composition of sulphides one can express it using the basic formula in chemistry such as AmSn wherein A represents a metal, S represents sulphur, n as well as m represent integers for example A2S, AS2, AS and many more. The commonly occurring metals in sulphides can be copper, iron, lead, nickel, cobalt, zinc and silver.

The majority of the sulphide minerals can be said to have structural arrangements belonging to mainly six general kinds out of which four are significant. These arrangements can be described as combinations of sulphur and metal that are in close packing and can be governed by charge as well as ionic size. 

Conclusion

As observed from the above discussion, the various aspects of sulphides have been covered in a comprehensive manner. The topics such as classes of sulphides, preparation of sulphides, the structure of sulphides and composition of sulphides are explained for a better understanding of sulphides. It can be concluded that there are mainly three classes of sulphides – organic sulphides, inorganic sulphides and phosphines.