Bismuth(III)-promoted acetylation of thio­ethers into thioacetates

Martyn Jevric, Anne Ugleholdt Petersen, Mads Mansø, Anders Østergaard Madsen, Mogens Brøndsted Nielsen

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The thioacetate group is extensively employed as an anchoring group for attachment of molecules onto gold surfaces or between electrodes in molecular electronics. On account of its ready hydrolysis, it is often incorporated in the last step of a synthetic sequence from the corresponding tert-butyl thioether. Here we present a particularly convenient method for this conversion using AcCl in combination with Bi(OTf)3, which is known as an environmentally friendly salt. A large variety of redox-active and photoactive substrates with tert-butyl thioether end-cap(s) was prepared, including molecules incorporating dithiafulvene, dicyanoethylene, dihydroazulene, fulleropyrrolidine, and triazole units, and successfully subjected to a BiIII promoted conversion into products with thioacetate end-cap(s). The azide group could also withstand these conditions, which allowed us to prepare S-(4-azidophenyl) ethanethioate that presents a convenient building block for subsequent CuAAC reactions.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEuropean Journal of Organic Chemistry
Volume2015
Issue number21
Pages (from-to)4675–4688
Number of pages14
ISSN1434-193X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2015

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Bismuth(III)-promoted acetylation of thio­ethers into thioacetates'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this