Steudel, RalfGöbel, ThomasHoldt, Gabriele2019-01-022019-01-0219880932-0776https://depositonce.tu-berlin.de/handle/11303/8756http://dx.doi.org/10.14279/depositonce-7885Hydrophilic sulfur sols prepared from sodium thiosulfate and concentrated sulfuric acid and purified by repeated NaCl precipitation and peptization in water have been studied by chemical analysis, vibrational spectroscopy, ion-pair chromatography and reversed-phase HPLC. The composition of the sol is Na164S28.606 • 5.9In S„ • 1.0 NaCl. The elemental sulfur S„ (n = 6-14; mainly S8) accounts for 17% the total sulfur; 83% of the S are present as long-chain polythionates which form micelles in which the S„ molecules are dissolved. On aging of the sol at 20 °C the polythionate micelles decompose to give water-soluble short-chain polythionates and elemental sulfur which precipitates from the solution. The micelle structure of hydrophilic sulfur sols may serve as a model for the so-called sulfur globules (S°) formed intra- or extracellularly by many sulfur bacteria which oxidize reduced sulfur compounds to S°. — Infrared and Raman spectra of K2Sm06 (m = 3—6) are reported. The photodecomposition of aqueous tetrathionate yields sulfite, thiosulfate, and polythionates with up to 9 sulfur atoms.en540 Chemie und zugeordnete Wissenschaftensulfur solpolythionateselemental sulfurthiosulfate decompositionsulfur bacteriaArticle1865-7117