Thioether
From Free net encyclopedia
A thioether (also known as a sulfide) is a functional group in organic chemistry that has the structure R-S-R, where R is any organic group. A thioether is similar to an ether except that it contains a sulfur atom in place of the oxygen. Because the chemical properties of both atoms are similar, as they are in the same group in the periodic table, the chemical properties of the two functional groups are similar as well.
This functional group has minor importance in biology, most notably in the amino acid methionine.
One characteristic feature of thioethers, like other sulfur containing compounds, is that simple volatile thioethers have foul odors.
One difference from ethers is that ethers (R-O-R) can only be readily oxidized to peroxides (R-O-O-R), whereas thioethers (R-S-R) can be oxidized either to disulfides (R-S-S-R) or to sulfoxides (R-S(=O)-R), which can themselves be oxidized to sulfones (R-S(=O)2-R).
Biochemically, a thioether linkage is formed when a vinyl group reacts with a thiol/sulfhydryl group, splitting the double bond and attaching the sulfur atom to the carbon atom not attached to the parent molecule, as follows:
R-CH=CH2 + HS-R' → R-CH2-CH2-S-R'
Template:Organic-compound-stubde:Thioether es:Tioéter ja:スルフィド vi:Thiôête