THE SULPHUR–OXYGEN BOND IN SULPHURYL AND THIONYL COMPOUNDS: CORRELATION OF STRETCHING FREQUENCIES AND FORCE CONSTANTS WITH BOND LENGTHS, BOND ANGLES, AND BOND ORDERS

It is shown that the bond length of an SO bond and the bond angle of an SO2 group may be very satisfactorily correlated with the SO stretching frequency. The bond-length – stretching-frequency relationship is used to predict some bond lengths that have not been measured and the OSO angles in some sulphuryl compounds are also calculated. The problem of defining and measuring the bond order of sulphur–oxygen bonds is discussed. It is shown that there is a linear relationship between the force constant and the bond order and a non-linear relationship between the bond length and the bond order.