Imidazoline-2-thiones tautomerism

Retro-Hantzsch, mechanism of, 84, 85, 102 Rhodanine, alkylation of, 419 ambident reactivity of. 419 reaction with aryldiazonium salts, 419 reaction with halogenothiazoles, 79 Rice cultures, 135, 136, 137 Ring-chain tautomerism, 113 Ring opening, of A-2-thiazoline-5-one, 433 Ring transformation, 5 amino-A-4-thiazo-line-2-thione to 4-mercapto-imidazoline-2-thione, 399 5,5-diphenyl-2,4-thiazolidinedithione, to 4,5-diphenyl-A-4-thiazoline-2-thione, 37 3... 

The best known of the potential mercaptoimidazoles are the imidazoline-2- and benz-imidazoline-2-thiones, which resemble imidazolin-2-ones in that the tautomeric form (53 X = S) is the preferred form. The crystal structure and the HNMR spectrum of 1,3-dimethyl-3H-imidazoline-2-thione have been interpreted as showing partial double bond character in the N—C—N system, but no aromaticity (70CC56). However, the preference for a betaine structure (56) rather than (57) or (58) should be accepted with caution since it is really only a resonance structure similar to others which undoubtedly contribute to the overall structures of oxo-, thio- and amino-imidazoles. Measurement of the piSTa values for a series of imidazoline-2-thiones substituted variously on C-4, C-5, N-1 and N-3 by hydrogen, phenyl or methyl shows that all of the values are similar. Approximate Kr values calculated show that these compounds exist even more in the thione forms (53, X = S 58) than do the corresponding thiazoline-2-thiones and oxazoline-2-thiones. The UV spectra in aqueous solution support thione structures, as do dipole moment and X-ray studies (76AHC(S1)280, p. 400). 

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