A transient thionitrosoarene was trapped by an azide, diazo compound, oxygen, and thiirane to give a sulfur diimide, thiocarbonylimine, N-sulfinylaniline, and N-thiosulfinylaniline, respectively. In the reaction with oxygen N-sulfonylaniline was also formed and underwent a novel type of intramolecular cyclization.
Photoreaction of the title compound at cryogenic temperatures produced a highly reactive 2,4-di-t-butyl-6-cyanothionitrosobenzene which showed a visible absorption around 470 nm.