Metal free coupling of heteroaryl N-tosylhydrazones and thiols: Efficient synthesis of sulfides

A metal free coupling of heteroaromatic N-tosylhydrazones with thiols is presented. A convenient synthetic route to synthesize heteroaryl N-tosylhydrazones is also showed. Valuable thioethers with pyrroles, pyridines, thieno2,3-b]pyridines, imidazo1,2-a]pyridines, and 6H-thieno2,3-b]pyrroles derivatives were synthesized in good yields. This coupling reaction can be carried out in a one-pot fashion and scaled up to the gram scale by using heteroaryl aldehydes, without the need to isolate the N-tosylhydrazone.