N- and C-sulfenylation of 1-(1,2-oxazol-3 (and 5)-yl)-3-alkylureas with organic sulfenyl chlorides

Condensation of chlorocarbonylsulfenyl chloride 1 with 1-(5-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1,2-oxazol-3-yl)-3-methylurea 4a has been found to give isomeric 2,4-disubstituted-1,2,4-thiazolidine-3,5-diones 5 and 6 . Assignments are confirmed by the X-ray structure data of 6 . Sulfenylation with alkoxycarbonylsulfenyl chlorides 7 and trichloromethylsulfenyl chloride 10 of 4 occurs exclusively on N-1 rather than N-3 of the urea moiety. With the isomeric 1-3-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1,2-oxazol-5-yl]-3-methylurea 14 and ethoxycarbonylsulfenyl chloride 7b , C-sulfenylated derivatives 15 and 16 are formed in low yield.