Sulfurative self-condensation of ketones and elemental sulfur: a three-component access to thiophenes catalyzed by aniline acid–base conjugate pairs

Abstract

A sulfurative self-condensation method for constructing thiophenes 2 by a reaction between ketones 1 and elemental sulfur is reported. This reaction, which is catalyzed by anilines and their salts with strong acids, starts from readily available and inexpensive materials, and releases only water as a by-product.