Copper and triphenylphosphine-promoted sulfenylation of quinones with arylsulfonyl chlorides

The efficient copper and triphenylphosphine-promoted sulfenylation of quinones with arylsulfonyl chlorides has been developed under mild conditions with moderate to good yields. Significantly, this provides an alternative method to synthesise arylthioquinone derivatives. This is the first time that arylthioquinones with arylsulfonyl chlorides as starting material have been prepared, which avoids the use of the awful smelling thioalcohols and thiophenols.