5‐Chloro‐3‐methylthio‐1,2,4‐thiadiazol‐2‐ium chlorides as useful synthetic precursors to a variety of 6aλ4‐thiapentalene systems

Title salts 3 were easily obtained by treatment of formimidoyl isothiocyanates 1 with a twofold excess of methanesulfenyl chloride. They showed interesting chemical behavior toward several nitrogen and carbon nucleophiles. Substitution reactions with isothioureas and acetamide in the presence of triethylamine gave the 1H, 6H‐6aλ⁴‐thia‐1,3,4,6‐tetraazapentalenes 7 and 6H‐6aλ⁴‐thia‐1‐oxa‐3,4,6‐triazapentalene 9 , respectively. Addition of p‐toluidine furnished the 5‐imino‐thiadiazole derivatives 10 , which reacted further with diverse heterocumulenes to yield the corresponding thiatriaza‐ and tetraazapentalene species 11 . The N,N′‐bis(1,2,4‐thiadiazol‐5‐ylidene)diaminobenzenes 13 were also prepared and reacted with phenyl isothiocyanate. Two stable rotational isomers were separated for the 1,2‐phenylene product 14b . Other π‐hypervalent sulfur compounds 16 were synthesized under similar conditions from salts 3 and methyl cyanoacetate or dimethyl malonate. The structural assignments were discussed on the basis of IR and NMR spectroscopic data and received additional support from X‐ray analysis of substrate 16a . © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 14:95–105, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/hc.10106