# Expedient Synthesis of Alkyl and Aryl Thioethers Using Xanthates as Thiol-Free Reagents

## TL;DR

A new method for making thioethers without using smelly thiols is developed, offering a cleaner and more efficient approach for pharmaceutical and organic synthesis.

## Contribution

The novel method uses xanthates as thiol-free reagents, avoiding the drawbacks of traditional thiols.

## Key findings

- The method uses odorless and stable ROCS2K as a thiol surrogate for synthesizing thioethers.
- The reaction shows broad substrate scope and good functional group tolerance.
- Xanthate intermediates are formed via nucleophilic substitution without transition metals or bases.

## Abstract

Thioethers are critical in the fields of pharmaceuticals and organic synthesis, but most of the methods for synthesis alkyl thioethers employ foul-smelling thiols as starting materials or generate them as by-products. Additionally, most thiols are air-sensitive and are easily oxidized to produce disulfides under atmospheric conditions; thus, a novel method for synthesizing thioethers is necessary. This paper reports a simple, effective, green method for synthesizing dialkyl or alkyl aryl thioether derivatives using odorless, stable, low-cost ROCS2K as a thiol surrogate. This transformation offers a broad substrate scope and good functional group tolerance with excellent selectivity. The reaction likely proceeds via xanthate intermediates, which can be readily generated via the nucleophilic substitution of alkyl halides or aryl halides with ROCS2K under transition-metal-free and base-free conditions.