1.5- Dithiacyclooctane dication

The turning point in the understanding of the chemical nature of S-S dications came in 1976 when Musker reported synthesis, isolation and characterization of disulfonium dication 12 formed by the two-electron oxidation of 1,5-dithiacyclooctane 10 (Scheme 4).29,30... 

The unusually facile formation of a disulfonium dication from sulfide 10 is the result of stereochemical features of the eight-membered ring, which favor the formation of a transannular bond.31 According to X-ray data (see in Chapter 7.1 Table 1), the distance between the two sulfur atoms in 1,5-dithiacyclooctane 10 is smaller than the sum of their van der Waals radii (3.75 A), which results in a strong non-bonded interaction between the atoms confirmed by photoelectron spectroscopy and mass spectrometry.32 33 This interaction and the sulfur-sulfur distance can be decreased as a result of bond formation with an electronegative substituent as in sulfoxide 13 or sulfoximine 14.34,35... 

Musker29 carried out a systematic study of the oxidation of several cyclic 22 and acyclic 23 bis-sulfides using nitrosonium salts. Several unstable dications were characterized as sulfoxides 24. These oxidations proceed through stepwise transfer of two electrons from a bis-sulfide to the nitrosonium cation and the intermediate formation of the corresponding radical cation. Radical cations of 1,5-dithiacyclooctane 11 and 1,5-dithiacyclononane are sufficiently stable to be isolated as individual compounds (Scheme 8).50... 

For radical cations this situation is typically observed when deprotonation of the dimer dication is slow and for radical anions under conditions that are free from electrophiles, for example, acids, that otherwise would react with the dimer dianion. Most often, this type of process has been observed for radical anions derived from aromatic hydrocarbons carrying a substituent that is strongly electron withdrawing, most notably and well documented for 9-substituted anthracenes [112,113] (see also Chapter 21). Examples from the radical cation chemistry include the dimerization of the 1,5-dithiacyclooctane radical cations [114] and of the radical cations derived from a number of conjugated polyenes [115,116]. 

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