Thermolysis of bismuth(III) dithiolates toward cyclic disulfides with tunable ring size and near-unity conversion
Abstract
Solventless thermolysis of bismuth(III) dithiolates Bi2[S(CH2)nS]3 at 145–170 oC is designed to prepare cyclic disulfides ((CH2)nS2, n = 3, 4 and 5) with 95–100% conversion efficiency, whose production is enabled by their low formation energy and a dithiyl diradical cyclization pathway.