Dithiete

Article summary

Dithiete is an unsaturated heterocyclic compound that contains two adjacent sulfur atoms and two sp 2 -hybridized carbon centers. Derivatives are known collectively as dithietes or 1,2-dithietes. With 6 π electrons, 1,2-dithietes are examples of aromatic organosulfur compounds. A few 1,2-dithietes have been isolated; one (low-yielding) route is oxidation of a dithiolene complex. Computation suggests that electron-donating substituents tend to promote isomerization to the vicinal dithione, and conversely electron-withdrawing substituents stabilize the dithiete. 3,4-Bis(trifluoromethyl)-1,2-dithiete is a particularly stable example, arising from boiling the corresponding alkyne in sulfur. Empirically, bulky neighboring groups, even when electron-donating also force the equilibrium towards the dithiete conformer. Absent either of these effects, "most of the 1,2-dithietes are highly reactive and elude isolation at room temperature." Ring opening is facile, even with stabilized dithietes, and occurs in many reactions. For example 3,4-bis(trifluoromethyl)-1,2-dithiete undergoes a hetero-Diels-Alder reaction with tetramethylethylene, indicating that a diene (thione) form must be the active intermediate. Metals and trivalent phosphorus derivatives insert into the ring/reduce the dithione tautomer to give metal dithiolene complexes.…

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