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Many cofactors also contain sulfur, including glutathione, and iron–sulfur proteins.

Amino acids (two proteinogenic: cysteine and methionine, and many other non-coded: cystine, taurine, etc.) and two vitamins ( biotin and thiamine) are organosulfur compounds crucial for life. Sulfur is an essential element for all life, but almost always in the form of organosulfur compounds or metal sulfides. Hydrogen sulfide gives the characteristic odor to rotting eggs and other biological processes. Many sulfur compounds are odoriferous, and the smells of odorized natural gas, skunk scent, grapefruit, and garlic are due to organosulfur compounds. Sulfur is used in matches, insecticides, and fungicides. The greatest commercial use of the element is the production of sulfuric acid for sulfate and phosphate fertilizers, and other chemical processes. Today, almost all elemental sulfur is produced as a byproduct of removing sulfur-containing contaminants from natural gas and petroleum. Historically and in literature sulfur is also called brimstone, which means "burning stone". Being abundant in native form, sulfur was known in ancient times, being mentioned for its uses in ancient India, ancient Greece, China, and ancient Egypt. Though sometimes found in pure, native form, sulfur on Earth usually occurs as sulfide and sulfate minerals. Sulfur is the tenth most abundant element by mass in the universe and the fifth most on Earth. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow, crystalline solid at room temperature. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula S 8. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16.