Electrochemical Synthesis of Organic Polysulfides from Disulfides by Sulfur Insertion from S8 and an Unexpected Solvent Effect on the Product Distribution

Synthesis of thioesters using an electrochemical three-component reaction involving elemental sulfur

An electrochemical three-component reaction involving elemental sulfur is disclosed for achieving a metal-free, oxidant-free synthesis of thioesters in a high atom-economical, step-economical and chemoselective manner. A mechanistic investigation indicates that the use of elemental sulfur to trap acyl radical derived from radical umpolung of α-keto acid with an electrochemical design can efficiently generate a carbonyl thiyl radical, which can further be captured by diazoalkane to afford various thioesters.

Dual-Functional Hosts for Polysulfides Conversion and Lithium Plating/Stripping towards Lithium-Sulfur Full Cells

The practical application of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries is greatly hindered by the shuttle effect of dissolved polysulfides in the sulfur cathode and the severe dendritic growth in the lithium anode. Adopting one type of effective host with dual-functions including both inhibiting polysulfide dissolution and regulating Li plating/stripping, is recently an emerging research highlight in Li-S battery. This review focuses on such dual-functional hosts and systematically summarizes the recent research progress and application scenarios. Firstly, this review briefly describes the stubborn issues in Li-S battery operations and the sophisticated counter measurements over the challenges by dual-functional behaviors. Then, the latest advances on dual-functional hosts for both cathode and anode in Li-S full cells are catalogued as species, including metal chalcogenides, metal carbides, metal nitrides, heterostuctures, and the possible mechanisms during the process. Besides, we also outlined the theoretical calculation tools for the dual-functional host based on the first principles. Finally, several sound perspectives are also rationally proposed for fundamental research and practical development as guidelines.

A stepwise one-pot synthesis of aliphatic thiols and their derivatives from acrylamides and sulfur

Elemental sulfur enables the convenient formation of C-S bonds and the direct incoporation of S-S bonds. The reactivity of easily accessible electron deficient alkenes towards sulfur, however, is barely disclosed. Herein, we investigated the reactivity of acrylamides with sulfur and eventually developed a new pseudo-multicomponent reaction for the preparation of polysulfides. Sequential one-pot reduction led to diversely substituted thiols. Additional third stage one-pot modifications provided thioethers, unsymmetric disulfide and thioester.

Electrochemical Synthesis of Organic Polysulfides from Disulfides by Sulfur Insertion from S8 and an Unexpected Solvent Effect on the Product Distribution

An electrochemical synthesis of organic polysulfides through sulfur insertion from elemental sulfur to disulfides or thiols is introduced. The highly economic, low-sensitive and low-priced reaction gives a mixture of polysulfides, whose distribution can be influenced by the addition of different amounts of carbon disulfide as co-solvent. To describe the variable distribution function of the polysulfides, a novel parameter, the "absorbance average sulfur amount in polysulfides" (SAP) was introduced and defined on the basis of the "number average molar mass" used in polymer chemistry. Various organic polysulfides were synthesized with variable volume fractions of carbon disulfide, and the yield of each polysulfide was determined by quantitative 13 C NMR. Moreover, by using two symmetrical disulfides or a disulfide and a thiol as starting materials, a mixture of symmetrical and asymmetrical polysulfides could be obtained.