Chemoselective Dithioacetalization and Oxathioacetalization of Carbonyl Compounds Using Alumina Sulfuric Acid as Catalyst

Abstract

Carbonyl compounds have been successfully converted into their corresponding dithiolane, dithiane, and oxathiolane derivatives using a catalytic amount of alumina sulfuric acid (Al2O3–SO3H) with excellent yields at room temperature in short reaction times under mild conditions. This simple method is a highly chemoselective procedure for protection of aldehydes in the presence of ketones, and the heterogeneous catalyst can be recovered and reused several times without any loss of its activity.