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Thionyl chloride
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Thionyl chloride (or thionyl dichloride) is an inorganic compound with the formula SOCl2. It is a reactive chemical reagent used in chlorination reactions. It is a colorless, distillable liquid at room temperature and pressure that decomposes above 140 °C. Thionyl chloride is sometimes confused with sulfuryl chloride, SO2Cl2, but the chemical properties of these S(IV) and S(VI) compounds differ significantly.

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Encyclopedia
Thionyl chloride (or thionyl dichloride) is an inorganic compound with the formula SOCl2. It is a reactive chemical reagent used in chlorination reactions. It is a colorless, distillable liquid at room temperature and pressure that decomposes above 140 °C. Thionyl chloride is sometimes confused with sulfuryl chloride, SO2Cl2, but the chemical properties of these S(IV) and S(VI) compounds differ significantly. Approximately 45,000 tons/yr of SOCl2 were produced in the early 1990s.
Properties and structure
The molecule SOCl2 is pyramidal, indicating the presence of a lone pair of electrons on the S(IV) center (in contrast, the stoichiometrically related species COCl2 is planar). SOCl2 reacts with water to release hydrogen chloride and sulfur dioxide.
- H2O + O=SCl2 ? SO2 + 2 HCl
Production
The major industrial synthesis involves the reaction of sulfur trioxide and sulfur dichloride:
- SO3 + SCl2 ? SOCl2 + SO2.
Other methods include
- SO2 + PCl5 ? SOCl2 + POCl3
- SO2 + Cl2 + SCl2 ? 2 SOCl2
- SO3 + Cl2 + 2 SCl2 ? 3 SOCl2
The first of the above three reactions also affords phosphorus oxychloride (phosphoryl chloride), which resembles thionyl chloride in many of its reactions.
Applications
Thionyl chloride is mainly used in the industrial production of organochlorine compounds, which are often intermediates in pharmaceuticals and agrichemicals.
Organic chemistry
Thionyl chloride is used to convert carboxylic acids to acyl chlorides
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and alcohols to the corresponding alkyl chlorides via an internal nucleophilic substitution.
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It is preferred over other reagents such as phosphorus pentachloride because the products of the thionyl chloride reactions, HCl and SO2 are gaseous, simplifying the purification of the product. Excess thionyl chloride may be removed by distillation. An example of a reaction of thionyl chloride with an alcohol is in a synthesis of bicifadine:
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Sulfonic acids react with thionyl chloride to produce sulfonyl chlorides. Likewise, thionyl chloride will transform sulfinic acids into sulfinyl chlorides and phosphonic acids into phosphoryl chlorides.
Thionyl chloride will react with primary formamides to form isocyanides.
Amides will react with thionyl chloride to form imidoyl chlorides. However, primary amides under heating with thionyl chloride will continue on to form nitriles.
Inorganic chemistry
Anhydrous metal chlorides may be obtained from hydrated metal chlorides by refluxing in freshly distilled thionyl chloride:
- MCln·xH2O + x SOCl2 → MCln + x SO2 + 2x HCl
Other applications
Thionyl chloride is a component of lithium-thionyl chloride batteries, where it forms the anode with lithium as the cathode. In military usage, thionyl chloride is used in the "di-di" method of producing G-series nerve agents.
Safety
SOCl2 is a reactive compound that can explosively release dangerous gases upon contact with water and other reagents. Industrial production of thionyl chloride is controlled under the Chemical Weapons Convention, where it is listed in schedule 3.
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