Abstract
Thioacetamide has been used as an elegant sulphur transfer reagent for C-S-C coupling of reactive halides.1–4 Sulphur extrusion of biprotic carbothioamides to form corresponding nitriles has been reported with the help of (i) dichlorocarbene;5 (ii) triphenylphosphine, carbon tetrachloride, triethylamine;6 (iii) diethyl azocarboxylate, triphenylphosphine;7 and (iv) soft metal ions.8 Here, we report that under non-hydrolytic conditions viz. DMF/OEt, EtOH/OEt and DMF/Et3N, biprotic carbothioamides (1, R=CH3, C6H5, CH2C6H5) react with bromoacetophenone (2, Z=COC6H5), ethyl bromoacetate (2, Z=COOEt).
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