The Mechanochemical Oxidation of Thiocyanate to Polythiocyanogen (SCN)n Using Peroxydisulphate

Abstract

Polythiocyanogen is a very exotic molecule and until now, it has been merely a curiosity for the inorganic chemist. The oxidation of thiocyanate in an aqueous solution is often complicated by the varied oxidation state of sulphur and the relative redox instability of cyanide. The oxidation of thiocyanate to polythiocyanogen by peroxydisulphate was carried out in a solid phase reaction at room temperature. In the solid-phase chemical oxidation of thiocyanate by peroxydisulphate the amorphous polythiocyanogen is generated. During the transformation of the reactants into products, the changes were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The products were characterised by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), IR, UV- visible spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, SEM, and EDX. The results of the chromatogram indicate that the polythiocyanogen is monodisperse and oligomer nature containing broad bimodal peaks with low molecular mass fractions.