Low‐temperature preparation of crystalline barium sulfide

Barium sulfide (BaS) is a compound with many uses, both commercially and in the scientific research world. Normally, BaS is prepared from the high‐temperature reduction of barite (BaSO 4 ) with carbon, a process that eliminates CO 2 as a by‐product. Temperatures during the reduction step can be as high as 1200 °C. We now demonstrate that barium disilylamides can be used as precursors to the formation of crystalline BaS in their reactions with hydrogen sulfide gas. As a major advantage, the temperature of BaS production can be lowered to 25–200 °C. The by‐products formed during the reaction are ammonium sulfides, resulting from the acid–base reaction of the liberated amines with excess H 2 S. Fortunately, these salts decompose thermally in vacuum under mild conditions. As determined by X‐ray powder diffraction, the BaS formed in this reaction is crystalline, in the face‐centered cubic space group Fm 3 m . Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.