Absorption of SO2(g) by TDAE[O2SSO2](s) to Give TDAE[O2SS(O)2SO2](s): Related Reactions of [NR4]2[O2SSO2](s) (R = CH3, C2H5).

One mole equivalent of gaseous SO2 is absorbed by purple TDAE[O2SSO2](s), producing red, essentially spectroscopically pure TDAE[O2SS(O)2SO2](s); under prolonged evacuation, the product loses SO2(g), regenerating TDAE[O2SSO2](s). Similarly, [NR4]2[O2SS(O)2SO2](s) (R = Et, Me) can be prepared, albeit at lower purity, from the corresponding tetraalkylammonium dithionites (prepared by a modification of the known [NEt4]2[O2SSO2](s) preparation). While the [NEt4](+) salt is stable at rt; the [NMe4](+) salt has only limited stability at -78 °C. Vibrational spectra assignments for the anion in these salts were distinctly different from those for the anion in salts containing the long-known [O3SSSO3](2-) dianion, the most thermodynamically stable form of [S3O6](2-) (we prepared TDAE[O3SSSO3]·H2O(s) and obtained its structure by X-ray diffraction and vibrational analyses). The best fit between the calculated ((B3PW91/6-311+G(3df) and PBE0/6-311G(d)) and experimental vibrational spectra were obtained with the dianion having the [O2SS(O)2SO2](2-) structure. Vibrational analyses of the three [O2SS(O)2SO2](2-) salts prepared in this work showed that the corresponding [O3SSO2](2-) salts were present as a ubiquitous decomposition product. The formation of these new [O2SS(O)2SO2](2-) dianion salts was predicted to be favorable for [NMe4](+) and larger cations using a combination of theoretical calculations (B3PW91/6-311+G(3df)) and volume based thermodynamics (VBT). Similar methods accounted for the greater stabilities of the TDAE(2+) and [NEt4](+) salts of [O2SS(O)2SO2](2-) compared to [NMe4]2[O2SS(O)2SO2](s) toward irreversible decomposition to the corresponding [O3SSO2](2-) salts. These salts represent the first known examples of a new class of poly(sulfur dioxide) dianion, [SO2]n(2-) in which n > 2.