Treatment of α-dithiolactone 6 with ethoxycarbonylformonitrile oxide 7 resulted in the formation of 1,2-dithietan-3-one 4. Compound 4a was oxidized with m-CPBA to give 4,4-di-tert-butyl-1,2-dithietan-3-one 1-oxide 5a. The reaction of 4a with triphenylphosphine afforded the corresponding α-thiolactone 10.
The reaction of 4,4-di-tert-butyl-1,2-dithietan-3-one with triphenylphosphine afforded 1,1-di-tert-butylthiiran-2-one (86%). The reaction of 4,4-di-tert-butyl-1,2-dithietan-3-one with phenylmagnesium bromide gave S-phenyl 2-tert-butyl-2-mercapto-3,3-dimethylbutanethioate in 83% yield. The reaction of 4,4-di-tert-butyl-1,2-dithietan-3-one with tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0) gave square-planar complex in 84% yield, whose structure was determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis.