The diagenesis of carbohydrates by hydrogen sulfide

Carbohydrates react with hydrogen sulfide under low temperature (100° to 200°C) yielding a variety of organosulfur compounds including thiophenes, thiols, sulfides and sulfones. A polymer is also produced, whose elemental composition is within the range of natural coals. When reductive dehydration is carried out in the presence of hydrocarbon, organosulfur compounds are formed in the carbon number range of the hydrocarbon used. In these processes, an active hydrogen transfer catalyst is produced which facilitates the passage of hydrogen between normal paraffins and saccharide units, distributing sulfur between these two families primarily in the form of thiophene rings. The simplicity of these systems—H₂S, carbohydrates, H₂O, hydrocarbon—and the facility of the chemistry would suggest that the carbohydrates and hydrogen sulfide may be important agents in the diagenetic processes leading to petroleum and coal. Carbohydrate reduction by hydrogen sulfide may constitute an important route through which certain organosulfur compounds found in petroleum and coal entered these materials in early diagenesis.