A study led by Prof. Juan Casado, from the Department of Physical Chemistry of the University of Malaga, Spain, in collaboration with the University of Oregon (U.S.A.) and Osaka (Japan),  has proved that lone pair electrons that characterize sulphur atom can also repel unpaired or itinerant electrons that are present in their environment. 

The study evidences that the conventional conciliatory behaviour of sulphur -- electron donor-- also shows a hostile side. The findings demonstrate that sulphur, under some circumstances, can also cause ‘magnetic repulsion’.

According to this expert, the diradical molecules (a molecular species with two electrons occupying two ‘degenerated’ molecular orbitals) used in the study -- more stable, functional and durable -- are critically important in chemistry, as well as in other sciences. For instance, they are associated with the chemical reactivity in combustion or are present in the persistence cycles of tropospheric ozone, and, also, in the future, they will be part of ‘magnetic plastic’.