Mercury complexes dithianes

Both of these transformations deserve comment. Dithianes are rather more stable than acetals, and a mercury reagent has to be used to assist their hydrolysis. Mercury(ll) and sulfides form strong Thiols are also known as mercaptans coordination complexes, and the mercury catalyses the reaction by acting as a sulfur-selective Lewis acid. 

C=0. It is therefore susceptible to nucleophilic attack at carbon. Methods have been developed by which this polarization is effectively reversed so that the carbon atom itself becomes the nucleophilic centre. Such an inversion is known as umpolung. An example is provided by the 1,3-dithiane system. An aldehyde may be converted into a cyclic dithioacetal by reaction with propane-1,3-dithiol in the presence of an acid. The two adjacent electronegative sulphur atoms make the C—H bond of this acetal rather acidic. Treatment with butyllithium therefore affords a lithio derivative in which the carbon atom is susceptible to electrophilic attack. The 1,3-dithiane system is reconverted into a carbonyl group by acid hydrolysis in the presence of mercury(II) ions, which complex with the dithiol. The RCO group in the original aldehyde is thus equivalent to R—C=0 (Fig. 3.10). 

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