Mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazoles, tautomerism

Thiadiazole, 2-amino-5-mercapto-azo dyes from, 1, 330 radioprotective agent, 6, 576 tautomerism, 6, 557... 

Tautomerism was reviewed quite extensively in CHEC(1984) <1984CHEC(6)545> and CHEC-II(1996) <1996CHEC-II(4)379>. The tautomeric ability of the 2-mercapto-5-methyl-l,3,4-thiadiazole 9 was studied by its reaction with the electrophilic Cl3 FnCSCl <2003JP01>. 2-Mercapto-5-methyl-l,3,4-thiadiazole 9 was considered to exist mainly as the thione tautomer however, electrophilic substitution occurred on the thiol (Scheme 1). 

Thiadiazoles were first described in 1882 by Fischer and further developed by Busch and his coworkers. The advent of sulfur drugs and the later discovery of mesoionic compounds greatly accelerated the rate of progress in the field of thiadiazoles. Thiadiazoles carrying mercapto, hydroxy and amino substituents can exist in many tautomeric forms and this property is being intensively studied using modern instrumental methods. 

C. Prototropic Tautomerism of Amino-, Hydroxy-, and Mercapto- 1,3,4-thiadiazoles... 

Within the huge field of heterocyclic rearrangements [53], the Dimroth rearrangement gives 5-mercapto-l,2,3-triazoles from 5-amino-l,2,3-thiadiazoles and allows interconversion of 5-amino-l,2,3-triazoles into a mixture of isomers under basic condition [54]. Thus, this reaction, discovered in 1909, involves a linear intermediate that can cyclize into two isomeric compounds (Scheme 15) [55]. This ring-chain tautomerization is reversible, but the equilibrium can be pushed toward an end if one of the two isomers is stabilized. 

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