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Updated: Sep 29, 2026

Synthesis of a Thiol Building Block for the Crystallization of a Semiconducting Gyroidal Metal-sulfur Framework
Published on: April 9, 2018
Direct synthesis of isothiocyanates from isonitriles by molybdenum-catalyzed sulfur transfer with elemental sulfur
Waldemar Adam1, Rainer M Bargon, Sara G Bosio
1Institut für Organische Chemie and Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany. adam@chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de
Abstract:
The direct molybdenum-catalyzed sulfuration of a variety of isonitriles with elemental sulfur or propene sulfide as sulfur donors affords the corresponding isothiocyanates in good yields and under mild reaction conditions. A catalytic cycle is suggested, in which the molybdenum oxo disulfur complex operates as the active sulfur-transferring species. A novel adduct between the isonitrile and the molybdenum complex has been characterized by X-ray analysis and its association constant determined by UV-vis spectroscopy, but this adduct appears not to be involved in the sulfur-transfer process.
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