chemistry

Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate

Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate rather than just read about it. In short: Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate is the organosulfur compound with the formula (CH3CH2)2NCS−2Na+. It is a pale yellow, water soluble salt.

Key takeaways

Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate is the organosulfur compound with the formula (CH3CH2)2NCS−2Na+. It is a pale yellow, water soluble salt. It is a precursor to the drug disulfiram.

Preparation Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate typically crystallizes from water as the trihydrate (CH3CH2)2NCS2Na·3H2O. The anhydrous salt and the trihydrate are often used interchangeably. Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate is obtained by treating carbon disulfide with diethylamine in the presence of sodium hydroxide:

CS2 + HN(C2H5)2 + NaOH → NaS2CN(C2H5)2 + H2O Other dithiocarbamates can be prepared similarly from secondary amines and carbon disulfide. They are used as chelating agents for transition metal ions and as precursors to herbicides and vulcanization reagents.

Reactions

Oxidation of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate gives the disulfide, also called a thiuram disulfide:

2 (C2H5)2NCS2Na + H2O2 → (C2H5)2NC(S)−S2−C(S)N(C2H5)2 + 2 NaOH Dithiocarbamates are nucleophiles and thus can be alkylated. Even dichloromethane suffices:

2 NaS2CNEt2 + CH2Cl2 → CH2(S2CNEt2)2 + 2 NaCl Diethyldithiocarbamate reacts with many metal salts to give transition metal dithiocarbamate complexes. The ligands coordinate via the two sulfur atoms. Other more complicated bonding modes are known including binding as unidentate ligand and a bridging ligand using one or both sulfur atoms.

Laboratory and practical use By the technique of spin trapping, complexes of dithiocarbamates with iron provide one of the very few methods to study the formation of nitric oxide (NO) radicals in biological materials. Although the lifetime of NO in tissues is too short to allow detection of this radical itself, NO readily binds to iron-dithiocarbamate complexes. The resulting mono-nitrosyl-iron complex (MNIC) is stable, and may be detected with Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The zinc chelation of diethyldithiocarbamate inhibits metalloproteinases, which in turn prevents the degradation of extracellular matrix, an initial step in cancer metastasis and angiogenesis. Diethyldithiocarbamate inhibits superoxide dismutase, which can both have antioxidant and oxidant effects on cells, depending on the time of administration.

References

Further reading Cvek B, Dvorak Z (2007). "Targeting of nuclear factor-kappaB and proteasome by dithiocarbamate complexes with metals". Curr. Pharm. Des. 13 (30): 3155–67. doi:10.2174/138161207782110390. PMID 17979756. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate

In research: Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibitors, CYP2E1 inhibitors, Chelating agents, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate in simple terms?

Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate is the organosulfur compound with the formula (CH3CH2)2NCS−2Na+. It is a pale yellow, water soluble salt.

Why does Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate.