| MadSci Network: Chemistry |
Yes. Sulfur has low-lying d-orbitals. It has a richer chemistry than oxygen.
1) High temperature sulfur vapor can be cryogenically quenched to S2.
Oxygen is diatomic naturally, as a paramagentic triplet biradical.
2) Sulfur rings have been made from the very small to the very large.
Linear chains of sulfur are quite stable - the polysulfides.
Polysulfide
rubber is a commercial product. Peroxides are unstable. Linear trioxides
have been made (F3C- caps) and are quite explosive.
3) Look at
selenium and
tellurium. The
trend toward chain formation (catenation) intensifies with the heavier elements
of the chalcogenides.
You should visit a university library and see "Advanced Inorganic Chemistry" by Cottona and Wilkinson, books devoted to sulfur chemistry, and literature review articles on naming variously sized sulfur rings (via dicyclopentadienide titanium polysulfide chemistry, for instance).
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