Highly selective double chalcogenation of isocyanides with disulfide-diselenide mixed systems

A highly selective method for introducing thio and seleno groups into a variety of isocyanides has been developed based on the elucidation of the relative reactivities of organic dichalcogenides and chalcogen-centered free radicals. When the reactions of aromatic isocyanides (ArNC) with organic disulfides (R'SSR') and diselenides (R'SeSeR') are conducted upon irradiation with a tungsten lamp through Pyrex (hnu>300 nm), simultaneous introduction of both thio and seleno groups into the isocyanides takes place to provide the corresponding thioselenation products (R'S-C(=NAr)-SeR') in good yields with excellent selectivity. In the cases of aliphatic isocyanides (RCN), a novel diselenide-assisted bisthiolation of RNC with diaryl disulfides (Ar'SSAr') proceeds successfully to give the corresponding bisthiolation products (Ar'S-C(=NR)-SAr'), although the same photoirradiated reaction of RNC with diaryl disulfides does not occur in the absence of diselenide. These double chalcogenation reactions are assumed to proceed via the formation of imidoyl radical intermediates by the reaction of isocyanides with relatively reactive thio radicals (compared with seleno radicals). The obtained thioselenation products can be employed as useful precursors for the construction of beta-lactam framework by the formal 2+2] cyclization with ketene equivalents.