Abstract para-Substituted diphenyl disulfides 1–5 with low gas phase ionization energies of about 8 eV react with AlCl 3 in CH 2 Cl 2 to form-radical cations of the corresponding thianthrenes (Table 2, Figure 2). Warming of these solutions produced a second ESR signal which is attributed to a benzodithiete radical cation (Table 2, Figure 3). This is possibly the reactive intermediate in the S 8 or S 2 Cl 2 catalyzed Friedel-Crafts chlorination of ...
