Figure 1.

Names, abbreviations and chemical structures of the various sulfur compounds selected for this study. These compounds include a set of different diallylsulfanes found in garlic, dipropylsulfanes found in onions, a reduced mercaptane as a reference and two synthetic derivatives with higher stability, solubility and less odour. It should be noted that the use of the nomenclature of organic and inorganic polysulfide/polysulfane species is still somewhat confusing. In line with the common “taxonomy” of negatively charged anions and hydrogen sulfides, we will therefore for the time being use the expression “sulfide” and polysulfide for anionic, inorganic species of the composition HS_x⁻/S_x²⁻, and the expression “sulfane” for organic, uncharged molecules RS_xR’, in analogy to “alkane”.