Synthesis of Cyclic Sulfite Diesters and their Evaluation as Sulfur Dioxide (SO 2 ) Donors

Abstract Although sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) finds widespread use in the food industry as its hydrated sulfite form, a number of aspects of SO 2 biology remain to be completely understood. Of the tools available for intracellular enhancement of SO 2 levels, most suffer from poor cell permeability and a lack of control over SO 2 release. We report 1,2‐cyclic sulfite diesters as a new class of reliable SO 2 donors that dissociate in buffer through nucleophilic displacement to produce SO 2 with tunable release profiles. We provide data in support of the suitability of these SO 2 donors to enhance intracellular SO 2 levels more efficiently than sodium bisulfite, the most commonly used SO 2 donor for cellular studies.