II. On a new series of sulphuretted acids

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 1856
• Subjects: Carbonic acid
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspl.1854.0012; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspl.1854.0012

Adopting the idea that the series of organic compounds of which sulphuretted hydrogen is the type, corresponds in every respect with the series of which water is the type, I concluded that not only mercaptans and neutral sulphides which correspond to the alcohols and ethers, but also compounds corresponding to the acids, anhydrous acids and ethers of acids might be produced; I therefore endeavoured to obtain reactions which would enable me to replace oxygen in the compounds of the latter series by sulphur. Such reactions are produced by the compounds of sulphur with phosphorus—the tersulphide (P 2 S 3 ) and the pentasulphide (P 2 S 5 )—which are easily obtained by fusing together amorphous phosphorus and sulphur in an atmosphere of carbonic acid; no explosion takes place, although the combination is attended with a very violent action.