Mercaptans from alkyl sulfonates

Sodium sulfhydride (NaSH) is a much better reagent for the formation of thiols (mercaptans) from alkyl halides than H2S and is used much more often. It is easily prepared by bubbling H2S into an alkaline solution, but hydrosulfide on a supported polymer resin has also been used. " The reaction is most useful for primary halides. Secondary substrates give much lower yields, and the reaction fails completely for tertiary halides because elimination predominates. Sulfuric and sulfonic esters can be used instead of halides. Thioethers (RSR) are often side products. The conversion can also be accomplished under neutral conditions by treatment of a primary halide with F and a tin sulfide, such as PhsSnSSnPhs. An indirect method for the preparation of a thiol is the reaction of an alkyl halide with thiourea to give an isothiuronium salt (119), and subsequent treatment with alkali or a... 

This reaction is analogous to similar methods for the preparation of ethers (methods 113 and 116), Both simple and mixed sulfides may be made from aliphatic mercaptans or thiophenols. The sodium mercaptides are formed from the mercaptans and aqueous or alcoholic solutions of sodium hydroxide or alcoholic sodium ethoxide. Alkylation is effected by halides, alkyl sulfates, or esters of sulfonic acids. The over-all yields of sulfides are usually above 70%. r-Butyl mercaptan is alkylated directly by /-butyl alcohol in strong sulfuric acid to give /-butyl sulfide in 87% yield. ... 

Sodium mercaptides are prepared from the mercaptans and aqueous or alcoholic solutions of sodium hydroxide or alcoholic sodium eth-oxide. The sodium mercaptide reacts with halides, chlorohydrins, esters of sulfonic acid, or alkyl sulfonates [6] to give sulfides in yields of 70% or more. A recent report describes a general procedure for synthesizing aryl thioesters by a nucleophilic displacement of aryl halide with thiolate ion in amide solvents. No copper catalysis is necessary as in an Ullmann-type reaction. 

Additioaal uses for higher olefias iaclude the productioa of epoxides for subsequeat coaversioa iato surface-active ageats, alkylatioa of benzene to produce drag-flow reducers, alkylation of phenol to produce antioxidants, oligomeriza tion to produce synthetic waxes (qv), and the production of linear mercaptans for use in agricultural chemicals and polymer stabilizers. Aluminum alkyls can be produced from a-olefias either by direct hydroalumination or by transalkylation. In addition, a number of heavy olefin streams and olefin or paraffin streams have been sulfated or sulfonated and used in the leather (qv) iadustry. 

In abroad sense, the model developed for the cobaloxime(II)-catalyzed reactions seems to be valid also for the autoxidation of the alkyl mercaptan to disulfides in the presence of cobalt(II) phthalocyanine tetra-sodium sulfonate in reverse micelles (142). It was assumed that the rate-determining electron transfer within the catalyst-substrate-dioxygen complex leads to the formation of the final products via the RS and O - radicals. The yield of the disulfide product was higher in water-oil microemulsions prepared from a cationic surfactant than in the presence of an anionic surfactant. This difference is probably due to the stabilization of the monomeric form of the catalyst in the former environment. 

By analogy with the catalytic allylic alkylation performed with C-nucleo-philes described in Section 7.2.2.3, Plietker et al. used benzyl mercaptan as an S-nucleophile toward an isobutyl carbonate in the presence of an NHC-Fe complex 9. Allylic thioethers were obtained in 82% yield as a mixture of two regioisomers [eqn (7.7)]. The same group also investigated the sulfonylation of allylic carbonates with a-sulfonyl succinimides as S-nucleop-hiles. In this case, a base-free catalytic system generated in situ by thermal release of the SIMes carbene from its chloroform adduct in the presence of [Bu4N][Fe(CO)3(NO)] was adopted. Addition of DBU to the reaction mixtures allowed the one-pot synthesis of vinyl sulfones through a tandem iron-catalysed allylic sulfonylation/amine-catalysed isomerisation process. Remarkably, base-induced decomposition of the iron catalyst was not observed. 

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