Selective approach to thioesters and thioethers via sp 3 C–H activation of methylarenes

Novel C–S cross-dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) approaches for the selective synthesis of thioesters and thioethers have been developed via sp 3 C–H activation of methylarenes and subsequent functionalization. The reaction of methylarenes with thiols resulted in thioesters in the presence of a FeBr 2 /TBHP system, while treatment of methylarenes with thiols in the Pd(OAc) 2 /O 2 /TBHP system led to the formation of thioethers. Both the green protocols demonstrate good functional group tolerance and satisfactory yields.