Molecular polarizability. The dipole moments, molar Kerr constants, and conformations of some dialkyl and diaryl disulphides

Dipole moments and molar Kerr constants are reported for five organic disulphides R2S2 (where R is methyl, t-butyl, phenyl, p-chlorophenyl, and β-naphthyl)in carbon tetrachloride solution. The experimental data are analysed to show (a) that each molecule has a skew structure with dihedral angles in the range 88-85� between the planes C?-S-S and S-S-C"; (b) that the anisotropic electron polarizabilities of the S-S group in dimethyl disulphide are bL = 4.66 �3, bT = bv = 2.25 �3; and (c) that in the aromatic disulphides the aryl group planes are nearly coplanar with their respective Car-S-S groups.