“…As shown in Table , FeCl 3 was utilized as the catalyst in the presence of 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoqinone (DDQ) and gave little to no desired product in these reactions. Since 2-H-1,3-dithiane is sparingly stable in an FeCl 3 catalyst system, after some experimentation, we reasoned that use of an initiator might be beneficial and N -chlorosuccinimide (NCS) was necessary to facilitate the coupling in a preactivation step . To our delight, upon warming to 0 °C, the aggregates 2-chloro-1,3-dithianes appear to disappear and 1,3-dithiane is efficiently converted with 2a to furnish the desired product 3a in 75% yield (Table ).…”