Dimethyl sulfide, tropospheric radical

An example in which formation of a carbon radical is not the initial reaction is provided by the atmospheric reactions of organic sulfides and disulfides. They also provide an example in which rates of reaction with nitrate radicals exceed those with hydroxyl radicals. 2-dimethylthiopropionic acid is produced by algae and by the marsh grass Spartina alternifolia, and may then be metabolized in sediment slurries under anoxic conditions to dimethyl sulfide (Kiene and Taylor 1988), and by aerobic bacteria to methyl sulfide (Taylor and Gilchrist 1991). It should be added that methyl sulfide can be produced by biological methylation of sulfide itself (HS ) (Section 6.11.4). Dimethyl sulfide — and possibly also methyl sulfide — is oxidized in the troposphere to sulfur dioxide and methanesulfonic acids. 

Akimoto, H., Kimitaka, K., Nakazawa, T., Washida, N. (eds.) Chemistry of the Tropospheric Atmosphere and Global Environment, Gakkai Shuppan Center, Toyko (2002). (in Japanese) Albu, M., Barnes, I., Becker, K.H., Patroescu-Klotz, I., Mocano, R., Benter, T. Rate coefficients for the gas-phase reaction of OH radicals with dimethyl sulfide Temperature and O2 partial pressure dependence. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 8, 728-736 (2006)... 

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