Thiols from disulfides

General problems, as compared to the formation of 0-glycosides, are the incompatibility between catalytic hydrogenolysis and sulfur functions, which complicates the use of benzyl ethers as protecting groups, although Birch reduction might be an alternative, and the easy formation of disulfides from thiols, irrespective of if they are used as donors or acceptors. 

It should be noted that A-bromo compounds can act as oxidizing agents e.g., A-bromo-acetamide and NBS oxidize secondary alcohols to ketones, and use of this has been made in steroid syntheses.355 Aldehydes, semiacetals, and finally esters are formed from primary alcohols by NBS, and disulfides from thiols (for references see Homer and Winkelmann354). Iodine is liberated from acidified KI solution, a reaction that can be utilized for quantitative determination of NBS and for detection of unchanged NBS in a reaction. 

Ethyleneamines are used in certain petroleum refining operations as well. Eor example, an EDA solution of sodium 2-aminoethoxide is used to extract thiols from straight-mn petroleum distillates (314) a combination of substituted phenol and AEP are used as an antioxidant to control fouling during processing of a hydrocarbon (315) AEP is used to separate alkenes from thermally cracked petroleum products (316) and TEPA is used to separate carbon disulfide from a pyrolysis fraction from ethylene production (317). EDA and DETA are used in the preparation and reprocessing of certain... 

Disulfide(s), 668 from thiols, 668 hybridization of, 20 reduction of, 668 thiols from. 668... 

Thiol (s), 652, 667-668 disulfides from, 668 electrostatic potential map of, 75 from alkyl halides, 667 hybridization of, 20 naming, 667 odor of, 667 oxidation of, 668 pKa of, 604... 

Similar behavior of other aromatic disulfides and thiols on gold electrodes has been described based on the SERS experiments [167]. Adsorption of benzenethiol, benzenemethanethiol, p-cyanobenzenemethanethiol, diphenyl sulfide, and dibenzyl sulfide was studied on the roughened gold electrode. All these species adsorb dissociatively as the corresponding thiolates. Monolayers formed from symmetric disulfides were exactly like those formed from the corresponding thiols. These monolayers were stable in a wide potential window from -1-800 to —1000 mV (versus SCE), which was limited by the oxidation of the Au surface from the positive side and hydrogen evolution at —1000 to —1200 mV at the negative side. 

Scheme 13.13 Formation of 2-methylfirran-3-thiol and its disulfide from xylose...

In addition to the sulfur compounds listed above, hydrogen sulfide has been found in many crude petroleums. Elemental sulfur has been definitely found in several crude petroleums by API Research Project 48 (23). Although Birch and Norris (5) isolated several disulfides from the spent caustic used in treating gasoline from Iranian petroleum, these compounds may have resulted from the oxidation of the thiols and their presence in the original petroleum is regarded as doubtful. Other types of sulfur compounds, such as thiophenes and aromatic thiols, have been identified in cracked petroleum products, but the presence of such compounds in naturally occurring petroleums has not yet been established. 

Sulfur compound VIII, a carboxytrimethylbenzene sulfonic acid, could have come from an aryl disulfide, a thiol or could be derived from the further oxidation of compound IX, a carboxytrimethyldibenzothiophene-1,1-dioxide. This latter possibility is indicated by the lower concentration of compound IX relative to compound VIII in the oxidation products of coals containing mineral matter. Once again the catalytic effect of the mineral component of coal is indicated. 

Sodium borohydride reduces disulfides to thiols, which can then be used to reduce nitro groups. Based on the redox properties of 1,2-dithiolane, lipoamide (17) was used for the selective reduction of mono-substituted nitrobenzenes to the corresponding anilines. Lipoamide (17) can also be immobilized on hydrophilic polymers such as polyvinylamine, polyethyleneimine and chitosan. These polymeric reducing catalysts can be recycled and are easy to separate from the reaction mixture. The system has been used to reduce nitroarenes to anilines. ... 

When an A -t-butyl group was present, attack occurred at carbon forming the usual four-membered oxaphosphorane. Analogously, sulfenamides were the first-formed products from thiols but they reacted with additional thiol and benzaldehyde to finally produce imines and disulfides. 

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