Gas Permeation of Sulfur Thin-Films and Potential as a Barrier Material

Sulfur, an important element in the chemical makeup of proteins, is recycled through the atmosphere and aquatic and terrestrial environments. Found in the atmosphere as sulfur dioxide (SO2), sulfur is released by decaying organisms, weathered rocks, geothermal vents, volcanos, and burning fossil fuels. It is deposited into the ecosystem, cycled through the biotic community, and either released back into the atmosphere as gas or deposited in marine sediment for long-term storage and eventual...

Sulfur is an essential element in biological systems, contributing to synthesizing key biomolecules, including amino acids such as cysteine and methionine, and cofactors such as coenzyme A and biotin. Microorganisms primarily assimilate sulfur as sulfate (SO₄²⁻) from the environment, which must undergo a series of biochemical transformations before it can be incorporated into cellular components. As sulfate is highly oxidized, it must undergo assimilatory sulfate reduction to...

Chirality is most prevalent in carbon-based tetrahedral compounds, but this important facet of molecular symmetry extends to sp3-hybridized nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur centers, including trivalent molecules with lone pairs. Here, the lone pair behaves as a functional group in addition to the other three substituents to form an analogous tetrahedral center that can be chiral.
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...

Gas exchange, the intake of molecular oxygen (O2) from the environment and the outflow of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the environment, is necessary for cellular function. Gas exchange during respiration occurs largely via the movement of gas molecules along pressure gradients. Gas travels from areas of higher partial pressure to areas of lower partial pressure. In mammals, gas exchange occurs in the alveoli of the lungs, which are adjacent to capillaries and share a membrane with them.

The test of the kinetic molecular theory (KMT) and its postulates is its ability to explain and describe the behavior of a gas. The various gas laws (Boyle’s, Charles’s, Gay-Lussac’s, Avogadro’s, and Dalton’s laws) can be derived from the assumptions of the KMT, which have led chemists to believe that the assumptions of the theory accurately represent the properties of gas molecules.

On comparing the reactivity of silver and lead, it is observed that the two ionic species, Ag+ (aq) and Pb2+ (aq), show a difference in their redox reactivity towards copper: the silver ion undergoes spontaneous reduction, while the lead ion does not. This relative redox activity can be easily quantified in electrochemical cells by a property called cell potential. This property is commonly known as cell voltage in electrochemistry, and it is a measure of the energy which accompanies the charge...