A hydrophobic polystyrene-supported sulfonic acid was found to be effective for hydrolysis of thioesters in pure water. It was revealed that the catalyst was much superior to other Brønsted acid catalysts. Transprotection of thiols from thioesters to thioethers has been successfully performed in water using this catalytic system.
[Verhagen, Johanna A.W.; Ellis, Dianne D.; Lutz, Martin; Spek, Anthony L.; Bouwman, Elisabeth Journal of the Chemical Society. Dalton Transactions, 2002 , # 7 p. 1275 - 1280]