Oxidation of Thiols with IBX or DMP: One-Pot Access to Thiosulfonates or 2-Iodobenzoates and Applications in Functional Group Transformations

o-Iodoxybenzoic acid (IBX) and Dess-Martin periodinane (DMP) are employed for thiol to thiosulfonate conversion at rt. DMP is better than IBX in terms of reaction rate, conversion, and required equivalents. IBX-mediated oxidation of benzyl thiols produced thiosulfonates, whereas DMP afforded O-benzyl esters. The one-pot conversion of a thiol to an ester is unprecedented; this atom-economic transformation has potential for functional group transformations (FGTs), e.g., an alcohol and an aldehyde are accessed from benzyl thiol.