Thiols, synthesis from halides

Monothioacetals 1,3-Oxathiolanes Thiolactams S extrusion, 59-60, 261 Thiols synthesis from haloalkanes, 169, 269 Thionation of lactones, 110-111 Thiones olefination of, 35 Thionocarbonates. See Carbonothioates Thionolactones, 110-111 Thionyl chloride prepn. of acyl halides, 143 prepn. of carboxylic esters, 347 prepn. of haloalkanes from alcohols, 32 Thiophenoi. See Benzenethiol Thiotosylatc. See Benzenesulfonothioic add... 

The procedure outlined above also offers a general method for the synthesis of alkyl and. aryl thiols starting from the appropriate halides. Thus thiophenol may be obtained in 62% yield by lithiation and sulfurization of bromobenzene.8... 

Preparation.—In addition to a number of reactions of thiols, discussed in the preceding section, a variety of other routes have been explored for the preparation of sulphides. U.v. irradiation of thiolesters gives mixtures (CHa CO SPh gives PhSH, PhSMe, o- and p-AcPhSH, and disulphides as major products), while addition of an alkyl halide to a thiolester in the presence of strong base (LiH, PhgCLi, etc.) provides a one-step route. A novel /3-keto-sulphide synthesis from a 1,2-diketone is illustrated by the conversion of (29) into (30). ° Alternative routes to jS-keto-sulphides often... 

The resulting thiolate anion is then capable of displacing halogen from a second equivalent of alkyl halide. This produces the corresponding thioether (dibutyl sulfide, Equation 8.59). In practice, thiol synthesis via the Sn2 process is best undertaken using a large excess of hydrosulfide anion so that the relative concentration of thiolate anion is minimized and thioether formation (Equation 8.59) is repressed. However, even under the best of circumstances, elimination competes with substitution. Alkenes can even be the major product and with tertiary alkyl halides, it is common to find that only alkenes result. 

If the substrate is an alcohol, some dialkyl ethers can be synthesized in a two-phase version of the Williamson synthesis, and thioethers or dithioacetals result from alkylation of thiols, with alkyl halides or CH2CI2 respectively, under similar conditions. The related reaction of equation (2) has been used to make an evaluation of several catalysts, and it has been found that the larger, more symmetrical, quaternary ions are the most efficient. 

A superior and relatively versatile procedure for the synthesis of unsymmetrical dialkyl thioethers, which avoids the unattractive direct use of thiols, utilizes the stable l-alkylthioethaniminium halides, which are readily obtained from thioacet-amidc [32] (Scheme 4.4). The reaction has also been used for the synthesis of alkyl aryl thioethers from activated aryl halides [33], but it cannot be used for the synthesis of cyclic thioethers, as polymeric sulphides are formed from a,co-dihaloalkanes. A similar sequence to that which leads to the thioethers has been used for the synthesis of S-alkyl thioesters [34] (see 4.1.26). 

A recent paper276 has shown that some halocyclizations involving sulfur functionalities other than thiols (e.g. thiazolidinones) may involve initial reaction at sulfur to generate a sulfenyl halide which cy-clizes via attack of the electrophilic sulfur. This type of reaction would be an alternative to the nucleophilic heterocyclization mechanism previously proposed for a synthesis of a biotin intermediate from a vinylthiazolidine. P 277... 

Formation of a symmetrical sulphide (a) (e.g. dipropyl sulphide, Expt 5.204), is conveniently effected by boiling an alkyl halide (the source of carbocations) with sodium sulphide in ethanolic solution. Mixed sulphides (b) are prepared by alkylation of a thiolate salt (a mercaptide) with an alkyl halide (cf. Williamson s ether synthesis, Section 5.6.2, p. 583). In the case of an alkyl aryl sulphide (R-S Ar) where the aromatic ring contains activating nitro groups (see Section 6.5.3, p. 900), the aryl halide is used with the alkyl thiolate salt. The alternative alkylation of a substituted thiophenol is described in Section 8.3.4, p. 1160. The former procedure is illustrated by the preparation of isobutyl 2,4-dinitrophenyl sulphide (Expt 5.205) from l-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and 2-methylpropane-1-thiol. 

Other means of improving sulfide yields in the reaction of halides with thiolates are (1) the use of thiols and platinum(II) complex catalysts287, (2) the generation of thiolate anions by electrochemical means288 and (3) the use of phase-transfer conditions237. The first method has been used for the synthesis of thioketals from geminal diiodides and the third has been used for the conversion of gem-dichlorocyclopropanes into cyclopropane thioketals, which are effectively masked cyclopropane moieties. 

Sulfides, or thioethers, are sulfur analogues of ethers, and like ethers they can be either symmetrical (R2S) or unsymmetrical (RSR1, where R and R are different). Sulfides can be prepared from alkyl halides by a Williamson-type synthesis with sodium hydrogen sulfide, sodium thiolate or sodium sulfide from alkyl or aryl halides via the Grignard reagent (11) from alkenes by radical-catalysed addition of thiols or by reduction of sulfoxides (Scheme 9).2b... 

Alkyldithio carbamates are prepared from the acid chloride (EtsN, EtOAc, 0°C) and amino acid, either free or as the O-silyl derivatives (70-88% yield). They may also be prepared by the addition of carbon disulfide to the amine which can then be alkylated with an alkyl halide using CS2CO2 as the base. The A-(i-propyldithio) carbamate has been used in the protection of proline during peptide synthesis. Alkyldithio carbamates can be cleaved with thiols, NaOH, PhsP/TsOH. They are stable to acid. Cleavage rates are a function of the size of the alkyl group as illustrated in the table below. 

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