Spectroscopic and structural study of novel interaction product of pyrrolidine-2-thione with molecular iodine. Presumable mechanisms of oxidation

Synthesis, spectroscopic and structural characterization of novel interaction product of pyrrolidine-2-thione with molecular iodine is reported. The ability of pyrrolidine-2-thione to form the outer-sphere charge-transfer complex C4H7NS·I2 with iodine molecule in dilute chloroform solution has been studied by UV/vis spectroscopy. Oxidative desulfurization promotes ring fusion of two pyrrolidine-2-thione molecules. The product of iodine induced oxidative desulfurization has been studied by X-ray diffraction method. The crystal structure of the reaction product is formed by 5-(2-thioxopyrrolidine-1-yl)-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrrolium (C8H13N2S+) cations and pentaiodide anions I 5 - , which are linked by the intermolecular I⋯HC and I⋯C close contacts. The angular pentaiodide anions can be considered as structures formed by coordination of two iodine molecules to the iodide ion (type 1) or by the coordination of iodine molecule to the triiodide ion (type 2).