General structural formula of the tetrathionate ion.
Tetrathionates form a class of ionic sulfur compounds. It has a bivalent negative charge. The gross formula is S4O6. Thiosulfates can be considered as the reduced form of tetrathio sulfuric acid.
The determination of the oxidation state of sulfur in tetrathionate is not so simple: one initially gets 2.5. This is a non-integer because it is an average value. In fact, not all sulfur atoms have the same oxidation state: 2 of them have oxidation state 0, the other two oxidation state + V. The reason for this is that the tetrathionate ion can actually be seen as an adduct of the disulfide (S2) and sulfur trioxide (SO3).
Tetrathionates are formed among other things in the analytical chemistry important redox reaction between diiodo and thiosulfate. In addition, almost any oxidizer is capable of oxidizing thiosulfate due to the relatively low standard electrode potential of the redox coupling thiosulfate tetrathionate (+0.08 V): 2 & # xA0; S 2 O 3 2 & # x2212; + I 2 & # xA0; & # x27F6; 2 & # xA0; I & # x2212; + S 4 O 6 2 & # x2212; {\displaystyle \mathrm {2\ S_{2}O_{3}^{2-}+I_{2}\ \longrightarrow 2\ I^{-}+S_{4}O_{6}^{2-}} } Also see
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