Carbon monosulfide is a chemical compound with the formula CS. This diatomic molecule is the sulfur analogue of carbon monoxide, and is unstable as a solid or a liquid, but it has been observed as a gas both in the laboratory and in the interstellar medium. The molecule resembles carbon monoxide with a triple bond between carbon and sulfur. The molecule is not intrinsically unstable, but it tends to polymerize in sunlight to a brown mass, as first discovered in 1868 and 1872. The polymer is quite stable, decomposing a little at 360 °C to carbon disulfide. This tendency towards polymerization reflects the greater stability of C–S single bonds.
Polymers with the formula (CS)n have been reported, and the formal dimer is ethenedithione. Also, CS has been observed as a ligand in some transition metal complexes.
The simplest carbon monosulfide synthesis decomposes carbon disulfide in a high-voltage AC arc.
References
Wilson, R. W.; Penzias, A. A.; Wannier, P. G.; Linke, R. A. (1976). "Isotopic abundances in interstellar carbon monosulfide". Astrophysical Journal. 204 (pt 2): L135 – L137. Bibcode:1976ApJ...204L.135W. doi:10.1086/182072. https://doi.org/10.1086%2F182072 ↩
Discovery in 1868: Loew, Oscar (1868). "Notiz über die Wirkung des Sonnenlichts auf Kohlenbisulfid", from Zeitschrift für Chemie, vol. 11 issue 4, p. 622 — via the Munich Digitization Center.History and subsequent elucidation of the polymer: Dewar, James; Owen Jones, Humphrey (1910). "Note on carbon monosulphide", from Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A, volume 83 issue 564, pp. 408–413. doi:10.1098/rspa.1910.0029 /wiki/Zeitschrift_f%C3%BCr_Chemie ↩
Chou, J.-H.; Rauchfuss, T. B. (1997). "Solvatothermal Routes to Poly(Carbon Monosulfide)s Using Kinetically Stabilized Precursors" (PDF). Journal of the American Chemical Society. 119 (19): 4537–4538. doi:10.1021/ja970042w. http://faculty.scs.illinois.edu/rauchfus/refs/polyCS.pdf ↩
Moltzen, Ejner K.; Klabunde, Kenneth J.; and Senning, Alexander (1988). "Carbon monosulfide", from Chemical Reviews, vol. 88 issue 2, pp. 391-406. doi:10.1021/cr00084a003. /w/index.php?title=Alexander_Senning&action=edit&redlink=1 ↩