When ethyl is infinitely different from methyl: double addition of lithiated dithianes to aromatic carboxylates revisited

Addition of lithiated alkyl dithianes to benzoyl chloride or methyl benzoate does not produce the expected product of double addition, alpha,alpha-bis(alkyldithianyl) benzyl alcohol, for alkyls larger than methyl. Instead, the first step intermediate, i.e. 2-benzoylated dithiane, undergoes an electron-transfer reduction by the second molecule of the dithianyl anion. This reduction is followed by the ring-opening mesolytic fragmentation of the dithiane ring in the ketyl anion radical and subsequent radical recombination yielding acetophenone-tethered thioortho esters 4, alpha-[3-(2-alkyl-1,3-dithiane-2-ylthio)propylthio]-alpha-alkyl-acetophenones. It appears that the Corey-Seebach bisaddition of lithiated dithianes to methyl benzoate is an exception rather than the rule in the alkyl dithiane series.