ChemInform Abstract: Thioesterification of Alkylbenzenes with Thiols via Copper-Catalyzed Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling Without a Directing Group

A unique copper-catalyzed cross-dehydro- genative coupling (CDC) of thiols and alkylbenzenes has been developed for the synthesis of thioesters without the assistance of any directing group. A thio- ester moiety is created via successive CS and CO bond formation at the expense of three sp 3 CH bonds of the alkylbenzene and one sp 3 SH bond of the thiol.