Carbon-sulfur bond cleavage and reduction of thiols and dithioethers under oxidative conditions

The reaction with hydrogen peroxide serves to cleave the carbon-sulfur bond and generate formally reduced products from certain thiols and dithioethers. The peroxide can be generated in situ from dioxygen using a supported palladium catalyst in the presence of a coreductant, either carbon monoxide or dihydrogen. The use of in situ generated oxidant provides a significant selectivity advantage compared to using a hydrogen peroxide solution. The reaction to form the reduced products is unique to compounds with a carboxylic group (alpha) to the carbon-sulfur bond.