Talk:Octasulfur

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Article title

I think a better title for this article is cyclooctasulfur (5320 Google hits). The current title octathiocane (1820 Google hits) is less common and uses organic nomenclature for an inorganic molecule.

Thiocane is Hantzsch–Widman nomenclature for cyclo-(CH₂)₇S, i.e. cyclooctane with one methylene (CH₂) group replaced by a sulfur atom. You can see from the pattern below where the name octathiocane comes from, but it doesn't make much sense because S₈ is not a heterocyclic molecule (it's a homocyclic molecule). Hantzsch–Widman nomenclature only applies to heterocycles.

Name	Formula	Semistructural formula	CH₂	S
cyclooctane	C₈H₁₆	cyclo-(CH₂)₈	8	0
thiocane	C₇H₁₄S	cyclo-(CH₂)₇S	7	1
dithiocane	C₆H₁₂S₂	cyclo-(CH₂)₆S₂	6	2
trithiocane	C₅H₁₀S₃	cyclo-(CH₂)₅S₃	5	3
tetrathiocane	C₄H₈S₄	cyclo-(CH₂)₄S₄	4	4
pentathiocane	C₃H₆S₅	cyclo-(CH₂)₃S₅	3	5
hexathiocane	C₂H₄S₆	cyclo-(CH₂)₂S₆	2	6
heptathiocane	CH₂S₇	cyclo-(CH₂)S₇	1	7
octathiocane	S₈	cyclo-S₈	0	8

Ben (talk) 13:14, 26 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

OK, no objections here. Plasmic Physics (talk) 15:07, 26 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I tried to do the move, but cyclooctasulfur already exists as a redirect. I'll ask an admin. I was interesting looking into all the possible thiocanes – might spawn a new article. --Ben (talk) 15:21, 26 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]