Photochemistry of Tetraalkyl‐2H‐thietes

Abstract

The 3-alkyl-2,2-dimethyl-4-(1ert-butyl)-2H-thietes 9 a-c were obtained in several steps from the corresponding, newly synthesized, 3-alkyl-2-(tert-butyl)thiophenes 5 a-c. Irradiation (254 nm) of these tetraalkylated fourmembered S-heterocycles leads to a photostationary equilibrium with enethiones 1Oa-c (thiete/enethione 3 : 1)

Uncommon Four‐Membered Building Blocks – Cyclobutenes, Azetines and Thietes

“…While few examples of thietanes (saturated analogs) appear in the literature, 2 H ‐thietes suffer from their instability at room temperature, undergoing easily retro‐ [2+2] cycloadditions [61] . In fact, the only reported case of an isolable non‐oxidized thiete possesses methyl groups and a tert ‐butyl moiety, [62] that probably give more stability through London dispersions [63]…”