Potassium xanthate-promoted reductive sulfuration reaction: from aldehydes to thiol, disulfide, and thioester derivatives.

Herein, we developed a synthetic strategy for the direct construction of C-S bonds to obtain biologically active sulfur-containing compounds and a methodology involving the reductive sulfuration of aldehydes or ketones to obtain diverse substituted thiol, disulfide, and thioester derivatives. EtOCS 2 K is demonstrated as a potential substitute for the Berzelius reagent or Lawesson's reagent for the construction of C-S bonds.