Iodine-Mediated Synthesis of 2-(Methylthio)-4H-chromen-4-ones and Study of Their Halogenation Reactions.

An efficient iodine-mediated method is developed for the synthesis of functionalized 2-(methylthio)-4H-chromen-4-ones by intramolecular cyclization of easily accessible 1-(2-benzyloxy-aryl)-3,3-bis-methylsulfanyl-propenones. The synthesized chromen-4-ones turn out to be a key precursor for various kinds of chemical reactions. Mechanistically, we observed that iodine-mediated intramolecular cyclization of ketene dithioacetal proceeded through a radical pathway. 3-Halo-2-(methylthio)-4H-chromen-4-ones were achieved via various two- or one-pot halogenation approaches.