O-Cinnamyl and O-(2-methylthioethyl) S-methyl dithiocarbonates (xanthates) underwent thione-thiol rearrangement to the dithiol esters in various solvents. The reactions followed first-order kinetics and the rates were affected by change of the solvent polarity. Plots of the rate constants against the Y values showed good linear relationships. The rate constants may be used as a new empirical parameter of solvent polarity in place of Y values. Modified intermediate neglect of differential overlap (MINDO/3) calculations indicate that allylic xanthates undergo [3, 3]-sigmatropic rearrangement via a polarizable transition state.
O-(2-Alkynyl) S-alkyl dithiocarbonates (allylic xanthates) were pyrolyzed to give 2-alkenyl alkyl sulfides (allylic sulfides) via the corresponding allylically isomeric S-(2-alkenyl) S-alkyl dithiocarbonates. The reaction follows the first-order rate law with relatively low sensitivity to the ionizing power of the medium and sizeably negative entropies of activation. When a mixture of two dithiol esters having different S-(2-alkenyl) groups and different S-alkyl groups was pyrolyzed, a "cross product" was not observed. The reaction was found to be facilitated by the presence of phenolic compounds or Lewis acids.Based on these findings together with modified neglect of diatomic overlap (MNDO) calculation data, the mechanism for the formation reaction of 2-alkenyl alkyl sulfides is discussed.