Solubilization of Elemental Sulfur in Water by Cationic and Anionic Surfactants†
Sulfur compounds, Part 119. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie. We thank Prof. Dr. J.-G. Kuenen (Delft) for drawing our attention to Refs. [12] and [13].—Part 118: D. M. Giolando, M. Papavassilion, J. Pickardt, T. B. Rauchfuss, R. Steudel, Inorg. Chem. 27 (1988) 2596.
Abstract
The solubility of S8 in water is increased by a factor of 5000 when surfactants are added. This is surprising since elemental sulfur is especially hydrophobic and is neither wetted nor dissolved by water. The solubilization of S8 in aqueous surfactant solutions explains, for example, how sulfur bacteria are able to transport S8 into the cell, where it is oxidized to sulfate: the bacteria secrete surfactant molecules.
