Carbon—sulphur bond formation catalysed by bis(diphenylphosphino)-methane complexes of platinum (II)

Abstract Thiols react with alkyl halides in the presence of sodium carbonate and a catalytic quantity of (dppm)PtCl 2 to give thioethers. Of especial interest is the successful application to thioacetal formation using 1,1-dihalides, which does not require the use of strong bases or the intermediacy of thiolate anions.