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methyl mercaptan
Sign in to saveAlso known as mercaptomethane, thiomethyl alcohol, Methanethiol, Methyl sulfhydrate, Thiomethane, CH3SH, Thiomethanol, Metilmercaptano
Methanethiol ( ), also called methyl mercaptan, is an organosulfur compound with the chemical formula . It is a colorless flammable gas with a distinctive putrid smell. In small amounts, it is pervasive in nature and found in certain foods, such as some nuts and cheese. It contributes to many odors, including the emissions from pulp mills, bad breath, and flatus. Methanethiol is the simplest thiol and is sometimes abbreviated as MeSH.
Chemical data
- Formula
- CH4S
- Molecular weight
- 48.11 g/mol
- IUPAC name
- methanethiol
- SMILES
- CS
- InChIKey
- LSDPWZHWYPCBBB-UHFFFAOYSA-N
- XLogP
- 0.5
- Polar surface area
- 1 Ų
- H-bond donors
- 1
- H-bond acceptors
- 1
- Formal charge
- 0
via PubChem
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- chemical compound
- Has part
- carbon
- Mass
- 48.003
- Image
- Methanethiol cylinder.jpg
Show 17 more facts
- boiling point
- 5.96
- vapor pressure
- 1.7
- canonical SMILES
- CS
- Commons category
- Methanethiol
- NIOSH Pocket Guide ID
- 0425
- density
- 0.90
- immediately dangerous to life or health
- 296
- melting point
- -123
- flash point
- 0
- solubility
- 2
- lower flammable limit
- 3.9
- upper flammable limit
- 21.8
- ionization energy
- 9.44
- ceiling exposure limit
- 20
- electric dipole moment
- 1.52
- chemical formula
- CH₄S
- found in taxon
- potato
via Wikidata · CC0
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Structure and reactions
- Occurrence
- Preparation
- Uses
- Safety
- Accidents
- References
- External links
Methanethiol ( ), also called methyl mercaptan, is an organosulfur compound with the chemical formula . It is a colorless flammable gas with a distinctive putrid smell. In small amounts, it is pervasive in nature and found in certain foods, such as some nuts and cheese. It contributes to many odors, including the emissions from pulp mills, bad breath, and flatus. Methanethiol is the simplest thiol and is sometimes abbreviated as MeSH.
==Structure and reactions== The molecule is tetrahedral at the carbon atom, like methanol. It is a weak acid, with a pKa of ~10.4, but is about a hundred thousand times more acidic than methanol. The colorless salt can be obtained by treatment with sodium methoxide: CH3SH + CH3ONa → CH3SNa + CH3OH The thiolate anion in sodium methanethiolate is a strong nucleophile.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “methyl mercaptan” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.