• White wines to which a sulfite is added as preservative probably contain diethyl sulfite, dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide, and dimethyl trisulfide in addition to the sulfur species considered by the authors (2).
• Volatile sulfur compounds present in wine have been determined by GC using the S-sensitive flame photometric detector(s) by entrainment in a nitrogen stream, adsorption on porous polymer, and desorption directly onto the GC column.
• Sulfur dioxide adds to conjugated dienes and simple alkenes yielding 2,5-dihydrothiophene-1,1-dioxides (sulfolenes) and thiiran-1,1-dioxides (episulfones), respectively (3, 4) . However, neither sulfolenes nor episulfones are S(IV) species although both eliminate sulfur dioxide when heated and the latter when treated with base as well (4).
• In general, there is no relation between the thermodynamic stability and kinetic lability of two different chemical species such as the bisulfite addition complexes of acetaldehyde and formaldehyde.

Differential solvation (5) is probably more important than inductive effects in explaining why “the adduct formed between acetaldehyde and hydrogen sulfite is a less stable compound” (than the one derived from formaldehyde).

Literature Cited

1. Lowinsohn, Denise; Bertotti, Mauro. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 103–105.
2. Chem. Abstr. 1983, 99, 37993w.
3. Leppanen, O. et al. J. Inst. Brew. 1979, 85(6), 350–353; Chem. Abstr. 1980, 93, 68569t.
4. Durst, T. Sulphones. In Comprehensive Organic Chemistry, Vol. 3; Barton, D.; Ollis, W. D., Eds.; Pergamon: Oxford, 1979; pp 178–180, 187–193.
5. March, J. Advanced Organic Chemistry, 4th ed.; Wiley: New York, 1992; p 270.