Sulfur in coal: Model studies of the role of ArS radicals in C-C and C-S bond formation and structural evolution in coal liquefaction

Experiments in this paper show the importance of thiyl radicals in sulfur containing coals during coal liquefaction processes. The presence of arylthiyl radicals enhances the cleavage of C-C, C=C, and C=C bonds in these otherwise refactory systems. Abstraction reactions, 1,2-phenyl migration from sulfur to carbon and displacement reactions at sulfur may be important mechanisms of structural evolution during liquefaction. In addition to cleavage of arylalkyl structures, the results also show that undesirable retrograde formation of inert diaryl- and triarylmethanes may be a consequence of the presence of sulfur and the attending aryl thiol structures. Thus, while a reaction medium including sulfur and hydrogen has been demonstrated to lead to the enhance cleavage of the bibenzyl model structure the present results suggest that retrograde reactions may be significant undesired pathways in coal liquefaction in the presence of sulfur. 17 refs.