Diselenide-assisted sulfuration of dienes

Various diselenides assist in the sulfuration of dienes giving cyclic di- and tetrasulfides as main products. The reaction requires a 2-fold excess of diselenides to be efficient. Catalytic amounts of diselenides result in lower yields. This is likely due to secondary reactions (polymerization, aromatization) occurring during extended reaction times under catalytic conditions. It was verified that the sulfur-transferring properties of diselenatetrasulfides are virtually identical to those of diselenides combined with sulfur. Contrary to previous claims, not only the cyclic diselenatetrasulfide but also linear diselenatetrasulfides (RSeSnSeR) transfer sulfur to dienes. A mechanism is proposed and its implications to the nature of diatomic sulfur are discussed.