The Tracer Study of the Reactions of Diphenyl Sulfone and Diphenyl Sulfoxide with Sulfur

Diphenyl sulfoxide-35S was reduced to the sulfide-35S nearly quantitatively by heating with sulfur at 280°C, while diphenyl sulfone did not react with sulfur at the same temperature. At around 300°C, diphenyl sulfone-35S started to react with sulfur and gave diphenyl sulride that lost nearly 75% of the original activity of 35S of the sulfone used. The main reaction of the sulfone was found not to be reduction, but substitution involving induced C-S cleavage and replacement with sulfur chain.