Dithietes

Tlie present chapter reviews the chemistry of three- and four-membered ring compounds containing an S—S bond in their ring. Dithiiranes 1,2-dithietanes and 1,2-dithietes are the compounds of this type. Although 1,3-dithietanes are four-membered heterocycles which are prepared much more easily and are seemingly more familiar, they have no S-S bond in the ring and hence are not included in this chapter. 

Tile a-dithione 91, generated by photolysis of 92, is transformed into the dithiin 93 (417o) in the absenee of a trapping agent. The eonversion was proposed to proeeed by a [4 + 2] eyeloaddition of 91 with its dithiete tautomer 94 leading to the dithietane 95, whieh was followed by loss of S2 (85JOC1550). Sueh [4 + 2] dimerizations are often eneountered in the ehemistry of 1,2-dithietes as diseussed later. 

Dithiatopazine 73 serves as a sulfur-transfer reagent under thermal conditions. Tlius, heating 73 and diene 130 in toluene at 100°C formed a cyclic disulfide 131 (25%) and a tetrasulfide 132 (28%) with the formation of the alkene 118 (90%). Under similar conditions, the highly strained acetylene 133 was converted to the 1,2-dithiete 134 (65%) and the congested thiophene 135 (12%) (90JA3029). 

Many stable 1,2-dithietes, which possess at least one bulky substituent, have been isolated. In this system, the strained, reactive double bond of... 

Cycloadditioiis in which 1,2-dithietes acted formally as dienes are among the most typieal reaetions of 1,2-dithietes. Tire dithiete 144 is highly reaetive and eapable of reaetions even with simple alkenes and alkynes (60JA1515 61JA3434,61JA3438).Tlius, 144 reaeted with aeetylene to form 191 and 192 with the initial formation of 193, and with tetramethylethylene to give 194. Other [4 + 2] eyeloadditions of 144 involved those with ethylene, cyelohexene, fra s-stilbene, ethyl vinyl ether, butyl vinyl sulfide, 3-hexyne, and DMAD. 

Tlie parent 1,2-dithiete, simple dialkyl or diaryl substituted 1,2-dithietes, and benzo-l,2-dithiete are unstable, highly reactive species and are not isolable under ordinary conditions. 

Tliermolyses of 245-248 were investigated (83JA4519). 1,2-Dithietes 246, thermodynamically favored products in the equilibrium with their 1,2-dithione counterparts, were satisfactorily generated from 245 and their photoelectron spectra were recorded. At higher temperatures, 246 decomposed to the corresponding alkynes and S9. Meanwhile, on thermolysis of 247, the corresponding 1,2-dithiones, and not 1,2-dithietes, were formed in the cases of R = Me and Et, and their photoelectron and IR spectra were... 

Tile following photochemical conversions also involve 1,2-dithietes as intermediates whose chemical trapping was reported in most cases. Tlie formation of the dithiin 249 from 250 may best be explained by the formation of the dithiete dimer 251 and the loss of S2 (73ZC424).Tlie formation of 252 and 253 from 254 (78NJC331) should be compared with the sulfuration of the acetylene 182 with elemental sulfur (93BCJ623).Tlie photolysis of 255 provides a rare example when the ejection of a nitrile was employed for the generation of a 1,2-dithiete (73ZC431). 

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