62224-02-6

The effect of the nature of the dithiolato ligand on the physical and electrochemical properties of synthetic H-cluster mimics of the [FeFe]-hydrogenase is still of significant concern. In this report we describe the cyclization of various alkanedithiols to afford cyclic disulfide, tetrasulfide, and hexasulfide compounds. The latter compounds were used as proligands for the synthesis of a series of [FeFe]-hydrogenase H-cluster mimics having the general formulas [Fe2(CO)6{μ-S(CH2)nS}] (n = 4-8), [Fe2(CO)6{μ-S(CH2)nS}]2 (n = 6-8), and [Fe2(CO)6{(μ-S(CH2)nS)2}] (n = 6-8). The resulting complexes were characterized by 1H and 13C{1H} NMR and IR spectroscopic techniques, mass spectrometry, and elemental analysis as well as X-ray analysis. The purpose of this research was to study the influence of the systematic increase of n from 2 to 7 on the redox potentials of the models and the catalytic ability in the presence of acetic acid (AcOH) by applying cyclic voltammetry.

Homologous series of alkane-1-thiols, alkane-2-thiols, alkane-3-thiols, 2-methylalkane-1-thiols, 2-methylalkane-3-thiols, 2-methylalkane-2-thiols, and alkane-1,??-dithiols were synthesized to study the influence of structural changes on odor qualities and odor thresholds. In particular, the odor thresholds were strongly influenced by steric effects: In all homologous series a minimum was observed for thiols with five to seven carbon atoms, whereas increasing the chain length led to an exponential increase in the odor threshold. Tertiary alkanethiols revealed clearly lower odor thresholds than found for primary or secondary thiols, whereas neither a second mercapto group in the molecule nor an additional methyl substitution lowered the threshold. To investigate the impact of the SH group, odor thresholds and odor qualities of thiols were compared to those of the corresponding alcohols and (methylthio)alkanes. Replacement of the SH group by an OH group as well as S-methylation of the thiols significantly increased the odor thresholds. By using comparative molecular field analysis, a 3D quantitative structure-activity relationship model was created, which was able to simulate the odor thresholds of alkanethiols in good agreement with the experimental results. NMR and mass spectrometric data for 46 sulfur-containing compounds are additionally supplied.