Dihalo(imidazolium)sulfuranes: A Versatile Platform for the Synthesis of New Electrophilic Group-Transfer Reagents

The syntheses of imidazolium thiocyanates
and imidazolium thioalkynes
from dihalo­(imidazolium) sulfuranes are reported and their reactivities
as CN+ and R-CC+ synthons evaluated, respectively.
The easy and scalable preparation of these electrophilic reagents,
their operationally simple handling, broad substrate scope, and functional
group tolerance clearly illustrate the potential of these species
to become a reference for the direct electrophilic cyanation and alkynylation
of organic substrates.