A palladium-catalyzed, one-pot synthesis of unsymmetrical aryl alkyl thioethers involving aryl halides (aryl bromides and chlorides), thiourea and alkyl bromides has been realized under mild conditions (room temperature to 50 8C) in water with polyoxyethanyl a-tocopheryl sebacate (PTS) as amphiphile. The PTS/water could be recycled in up to eight runs without an obvious change in its activity.

A simple and environmentally benign one-pot synthesis of diaryl thioethers by coupling of arylboronic acids with potassium ethyl xanthogenate through a double arylation process has been developed. The aryl thiols were generated in situ, and the reactions proceeded smoothly to give the corresponding products in good to excellent yields under very mild conditions.