Thiocarbonyl Chloride, CSCl₂

Thiocarbonyl Chloride, CSCl₂, is formed by the prolonged action of dry chlorine on carbon disulphide, and by heating phosphorus pentachloride and carbon disulphide together in sealed tubes at 100° C.:

PCl₅ + CS₂ = PSCl₃ + CSCl₂.

It may also be obtained by the reduction, by tin and hydrochloric acid, of CSCl₄, which is a liquid boiling at 149° C. formed by the action of chlorine on carbon disulphide in presence of a little iodine.

Thiocarbonyl chloride is a strongly smelling liquid of density 1.5085 at 15° C. and boiling at 73.5° C. It is slowly decomposed by water.