Thiol synthesis methods: a review

The pungent odor of thiol compounds has never been an obstacle to researching effective high-yield methods of their synthesis. This is due to the vital roles they play in different areas of manufacturing, medicine, pharmaceuticals and others. This review presents some of the traditional preparation methods that have been developed at the end of the twentieth century together with the modern invented methods of synthesis. An analysis of the literature data on the most researched mercaptans and the most utilized source of sulfur has been made. The advantages and disadvantages of some of the methods have been presented. From the gathered literature data, it is clear that there is an increasing interest in developing efficient thiol synthesis methods.