DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201600363
Communications
Hydrothiolation of Alkenes and Alkynes Catalyzed by 3,4-
Dimethyl-5-vinylthiazolium iodide and Poly(3,4-dimethyl-
5-vinylthiazolium) iodide
Supill Chun, Junyong Chung, Ji Eun Park, and Young Keun Chung*[a]
The highly selective anti-Markovnikov addition of thiols to un-
activated alkenes and alkynes was demonstrated by using 3,4-
dimethyl-5-vinylthiazolium iodide or its polymer, poly(3,4-di-
methyl-5-vinylthiazolium) iodide, as a complementary catalyst.
The reaction proceeded cleanly under base-free conditions in
air with both aromatic and aliphatic thiols. The polymer cata-
lyst showed a high turnover number (ꢀ5800) and could be
reused up to four times without any loss of catalytic activity.
DFT calculations supported stabilization of the thiyl radical in-
termediate by the thiazolium cation, which resulted in reaction
of the radical with unsaturated CÀC bonds.
dition of CO2 to epoxides, the benzoin condensation reaction,
and the tandem formation of g-butyrolactone from benzalde-
hyde and methyl acrylate. These polymer-based systems can
be reused several times without any significant loss of catalytic
activity. We also reported the synthesis of poly(3,4-dimethyl-5-
vinylthiazolium) iodide (B) from 3,4-dimethyl-5-vinylthiazolium
iodide (A) (Scheme 1) and their use in thioesterification reac-
tions.[11] Continuing our work on expanding the scope of poly-
mer-based organocatalytic systems, we screened a variety of
reactions in the presence of B.
Organosulfur compounds have widespread applications in ma-
terials chemistry and chemical biology.[1] Thus, the develop-
ment of efficient synthetic methods for the incorporation of
sulfur into organic frameworks is of significant interest.[2] In
this context, the hydrothiolation reaction, that is, the direct ad-
dition of the SÀH bond of thiols to unsaturated carbon–carbon
bonds, is a simple and atom-economical approach to the syn-
thesis of organosulfur compounds.[3] The development of effi-
cient catalytic systems that can promote hydrothiolation is an
important challenge for synthetic organic chemists. Hydrothio-
lation can be catalyzed by strong bases,[4a–d] strong acids, or
free radicals.[4e,f] Recently, several metal compounds were re-
vealed to catalyze hydrothiolation reactions and were re-
viewed.[5] However, some of the reported procedures have
many disadvantages, such as unsatisfactory yields, long reac-
tion times,[6] formation of unwanted byproducts, the use of
highly carcinogenic and hazardous organic solvents,[7] and the
use of expensive and/or difficult to obtain catalysts.[8] Thus, the
development of a more efficient and convenient method for
the hydrothiolation of alkenes and alkynes is necessary.
Scheme 1. Synthesis of poly(3,4-dimethyl-5-vinylthiazolium) iodide (B) from
3,4-dimethyl-5-vinylthiazolium iodide (A). AIBN=2,2’-azobisisobutyronitrile.
Interestingly, we found that A and B were highly effective
catalysts for the hydrothiolation of alkenes and alkynes under
mild conditions. Herein, we report a simple and efficient proto-
col for the synthesis of linear and vinyl thioethers through the
anti-Markovnikov addition of thiols to alkenes and alkynes by
using N-heterocyclic carbene catalysts, A and B. Our catalysts
were highly effective, even in the presence of air, and did not
requires the use of metal complexes or free-radical initiators.
High turnover numbers were observed in the presence of poly-
meric catalyst B. To the best of our knowledge, catalyst B is
the first successfully recyclable organic polymer catalyst for the
hydrothiolation reaction.
As a model reaction for hydrothiolation, we initially exam-
ined the reaction of styrene with thiophenol in the presence of
polymeric B (1 mol%) for 60 min (Table 1). The reaction was
highly sensitive to the medium and temperature. In CH2Cl2 and
toluene, the expected product was not formed (Table 1, en-
tries 1 and 2). However, upon changing the solvent to DMF at
408C, the expected product was formed, albeit in low yield
(14%; Table 1, entry 3). Increasing the amount of catalyst B to
2 mol% failed to produce any noticeable increase in yield
(15%; Table 1, entry 4). To optimize the reaction conditions fur-
ther, we screened a range of temperatures. No reaction was
observed at 258C. Upon increasing the reaction temperature
to 608C, the yield increased dramatically to 82%. However,
a further increase in the temperature to 708C was not helpful
in increasing the yield (81%; Table 1, entry 7). An increase in
Organocatalysts are usually inexpensive, readily available,
robust, and nontoxic.[9] However, they are not usually reusable
because of the difficulties involved in their recovery. To over-
come the problems related to the isolation of these catalysts
from a reaction mixture, we recently developed a polymer-
based organocatalytic system, poly(4-vinyl N-heterocyclic car-
bene).[10] Theses catalysts showed high activity in the cycload-
[a] S. Chun, J. Chung, J. E. Park, Prof. Y. K. Chung
Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
Seoul National University
Seoul 151-747 (Korea)
Supporting Information for this article can be found under http://
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