Antimony trisulfide
Description
1) A red pigment that is also called antimony red, antimony orange or antimony vermilion. Depending on conditions, antimony trisulfide can range in hue from orange to deep red. The purple material has an unstable crystalline form and will turn black when mixed with lead pigments. Antimony red is also used to color ruby glass. A non-stoichiometric form, called antimony orange (approximate formula Sb2S3·Sb2O3), was discovered by a dye and fabric chemist (John Mercer and was used as an orange pigment for printing cotton fabric.
2) A black pigment that is prepared by grinding the mineral stibnite. Antimony sulfide, is actually antimony trisulfide, but because it exists as red (synthetic) and black (natural) crystals, the black form is sometimes called antimony sulfide and antimony black. Black antimony trisulfide is used in camouflage paints because it has the same infrared reflectance value as green foliage. The black powder, called kohl, was occasionally used as an eye paint in Egypt from the Amarna period onwards (Ogden 2000). Antimony black powder was used since the late 17th century to blacken the edges of books (Roberts and Etherington 1982).
Synonyms and Related Terms
antimony (III) sulfide; antimony sulfide; stibnite (mineral); antimony trisulphide (Br.); orangé d'antimoine (Fr.); trisulfure d'antimoine (Fr.); sulfure d'antimoine (Fr.); Antimontrisulfid (Deut.); Stibnit (Deut.); Antimonit (Deut.); trisulfuro de antimonio (Esp.); tritheioycho antimonio (Gr.); trisolfuro di antimonio (arancio di antimonio) (It.); antimoon trisulfide (Ned.); trisulfureto de antimónio (Port.); antimony orange; antimony red; antimony vermilion; antimony black; hermus mineral
Risks
- Skin contact can cause allergies and ulcers.
- Highly toxic by inhalation and ingestion.
- Reacts explosively with organic materials.
- Turns black with heat or when mixed with lead pigments.
- Fisher Scientific: MSDS 05/02/01
Physical and Chemical Properties
- Soluble in alkalis and strong acids.
- Insoluble in water.
- Burns in air with a blue flame
- Composition = Sb2S3
- CAS = 1345-04-6
- Melting Point = 550 C
- Density = 4.562 g/ml
- Molecular Weight = 339.72
- Refractive Index = 2.65
Resources and Citations
- M.Roberts, D.Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1982.
- J. Ogden, "Metals" in Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, P.Nicholson, I.Shaw (eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 149.
- G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 64
- R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia, Dover Publications, New York, 1966
- Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)
- Susan E. Schur, Conservation Terminology: A review of Past & Current Nomenclature of Materials, Technology and Conservation, Spring (p.34-39); Summer (p.35-38); Fall (p.25-36), 1985
- Michael McCann, Artist Beware, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York City, 1979
- Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000
- Wikipedia: Antimony trisulfide Accessed May 2026
- ColourLex: Antimony Orange