The S 3− radical anion is observed in several systems: non-aqueous polysulfides solutions, doped alkali halides, ultramarine pigments (UP) for which S 3 − is the blue chromophore and S 2 − is the yellow one and pigments of zeolite 4A structure. The S 3 − ion has C 2V symmetry, and therefore its three vibrational modes should be observed in the Raman and in IR spectra. In resonance Raman spectroscopy, only the symmetric stretching mode n 1 and the bending mode n 2 have been observed, whereas the anti-symmetric stretching mode n 3 has never been observed whatever the system. In this work, we confirm that n 3 is not observed in solutions with resonance Raman spectroscopy. However, our investigation of several blue UP, with various concentrations of S 2 − , shows that there is a superposition of two bands at ca 590 cm −1 : the first is assigned to n (S 2 − ) and the second to n 3 (S 3 − ). With the 457.9 nm excitation line, for which the resonance conditions are simultaneously fulfilled for S 2 − and S 3 − , the band at ca 590 cm −1 is the sum of the contributions of both n (S 2 − ) and n 3 (S 3 − ) vibrations, while, with the 647.1 nm line, which only satisfies the resonance conditions of S 3 − , the band at ca 584 cm −1 must be assigned only to n 3 (S 3 − ). Furthermore, n 3 (S 3 − ) is observed in green UP and in pigments of zeolite structure. The n 3 vibration of S 3 − , which is observed neither in polysulfide solutions nor in doped alkali halides in resonance Raman conditions, can therefore be observed when this species is inserted into the b-cages of the sodalite or of the zeolite 4A structures. So, the band at ca 590 cm −1 cannot always be assigned to S 2 − in these systems. This implies that the concentration of S 2 − in UP must be reconsidered.Raman spectra were recorded at room temperature with an RT30 Dilor spectrometer (for 457.9; 530.8 and 647.1 nm
DISCUSSIONThe above results show that the Raman band associated with the 3 anti-symmetric stretching mode of S 3 is observed in