The bromine analog of sulfur mustard: Synthesis and reactivity studies

Abstract

This paper presents a synthesis of the bromine analog of sulfur mustard, as well as a detailed description of its hydrolysis reactions under changing polarity conditions. Oxidation reactions of the bromine analog of sulfur mustard and its reactions with sodium ethoxide were also investigated. The oxidation kinetics of bis(2-bromoethyl) sulfide using selected oxidants, such as magnesium monoperoxyphthalate, ammonium persulfate, and hydrogen peroxide, was examined. There is a bromine analog of mustard gas which, instead of two chlorine atoms in the molecules of this compound, have bromine atoms. This compound has not been included in the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). This substance is poorly described in the literature. To better understand the chemical properties of a particular compound, it is often necessary to study the reaction of analog of a given substance under the same physicochemical conditions. It was found that the hydrolysis of bis(2-bromoethyl) sulfide proceeds from 6 to 16 times faster than in the case of sulfur mustard, depending on the water content in the reaction mixture. Also, the oxidation of the bromine derivative occurs three times (in the case of using (NH4)2S2O8) and ten times (in the case of H2O2) faster than the oxidation of sulfur mustard. The half-life of the decay of the bis(2-bromoethyl) sulfide during its reaction with sodium ethoxide solutions was 47.2 s. However, the same reaction of sodium ethoxide with mustard gas is about 18 times slower, and the half-life of sulfur mustard is about 14.7 min. The conclusions from this study may be helpful during the development of decontamination and neutralization techniques for sulfur mustard.