Comment on “Dithiocarbamate-mediated thioamidation of arylglyoxylic acids by decarboxylative–decarbonylative C–C bond formation reactions” by D. Patra and A. Saha, Org. Chem. Front., 2023, 10, 1686

Abstract

The reported thioamidation reaction of phenylglyoxylic acid, PhCOCO₂H, gives only a 5% yield of thioamide product, and not the 96% yield reported in Org. Chem. Front., 2023, 10, 1686. The proposed Pd(II) catalyst plays no role in the reaction. Labelled phenylglyoxylic acid, Ph¹³COCO₂H, gave a thioamide product where the ¹³C label is retained. This rules out the suggested mechanism, which involves a phenyl radical derived from decarbonylation of benzoyl radical.