Organophosphorus-Catalyzed Direct Dehydroxylative Thioetherification of Alcohols with Hypervalent Organosulfur Compounds

J Org Chem. 2024 Jan 19;89(2):1083-1090. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.3c02175. Epub 2024 Jan 3.

Abstract

A metal-free and thiol-free organophosphorus-catalyzed method for forming thioethers was disclosed, driven by PIII/PV═O redox cycling. In this work, one-step dehydroxylative thioetherification of alcohols was fulfilled with various hypervalent organosulfur compounds. This established strategy features an excellent functional group tolerance and broad substrate scope, especially inactivated alcohols. The scale-up reaction and further transformation of the product were also successful. Additionally, this method offers a protecting-group-free and step-efficient approach for synthesizing peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonists which exhibited promising potential for treating osteoporosis in mammals.