Tandem thionation of biomass derived levulinic acid with Lawesson's reagent†
Abstract
Herein we report a tandem thionation of biomass derived levulinic acid (LA) to generate thiophenic compounds. LA is initially converted to several thiophenones and then an aromatic di-thionated product, 5-methylthiophene-2-thiol, is obtained with the highest yield of 78%. An overall synthesis of thiophenic products from cellulose is also developed.