Sulfur poisoning is still a problem in many application areas of exhaust gas catalysts despite the fact that the sulfur levels, e.g. in gasoline are being continuously reduced. The aim of this study was to calculate thermodynamic equilibrium compositions of sulfur in Ce-O-S and La-O-S systems in the presence of precious metals (Pt, Pd, and Rh), which all were considered as bulk materials, in order to understand the experimentally observed sulfur poisoning under the real applications of exhaust gas catalysts. Depending on temperature and oxygen partial pressure, sulfur can be present in the form of sulfates, sulfides and oxysulfides. It is thermodynamically favorable that cerium oxide reacts with SO2 to form cerium sulfate at low temperatures and cerium oxysulfides at high temperatures. Lanthanum oxide reacts with SO2 to form sulfate under oxidizing conditions and sulfides under reducing conditions. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.