Design of a Bilateral Disulfurating Reagent for Unsymmetrical Polysulfidation

In this study, we designed a bilateral disulfurating reagent via S-S motif "snip and stitch" processes, allowing diverse functional groups to be bridged via S-S bonds. The reagent is readily synthesized in high yield using a one-step reaction from easily available starting materials and is air-stable. With this reagent, diverse electrophiles including inactivated alkyl Cl/Br/I/OMs and benzyl chloride were sequentially installed on either side of the S-S motif. Natural products, agrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals can be successively cross-linked with S-S bonds. Notably, the disulfurating reagent can be used in cyclic disulfide synthesis. At last, some desired products of this work showed good antibacterial activities, which could be employed as novel candidates to control plant pathogenic bacteria.