Chapter 4 Sulfur Monochloride in the Synthesis of Heterocyclic Compounds

Publisher Summary The reactions described in this chapter explain that sulfur monochloride is an important reagent for the synthesis of heterocycles with various numbers of sulfur atoms and even without sulfur. An important feature of this reagent is that it can add not only two sulfur atoms to the molecule, as might be expected, but also one, three, four, five, or even more atoms and the structure of the final compound often depends on its stability. The recent developments in the use of sulfur monochloride include: the discovery of its ability to form complexes with organic bases and of the significant difference in reactivity of these complexes from S2Cl2. A selective synthesis of particular heterocycles require accurate conditions like temperature, solvent, catalyst, and base.