Molecular Structure of S2cl2

The molecular structure of S2Cl2 has been determined accurately by electron diffraction. The ClSSCl chain configuration has the dimensions: S—Cl = 2.057 ± 0.002 Å, S—S = 1.931 ± 0.005 Å, SSCl = 108.2 ± 0.3°, ϕ(the dihedral angle between the two SSCl planes)= 84.8 ± 1.3°. The two bond distances occur within a single peak of the radial distribution curve; the resulting correlation problem was solved by carrying out refinements with constrained amplitudes. The study confirms the absence of the pyramidal isomer S = SCl2, but the existence of SClClS cannot be ruled out entirely from the electron diffraction results alone. The structure of S2Cl2 is compared with that of S2F2 where the S = SF2 isomer predominates.