e.g. Filippa Pettersson or Cancer Res. 75(6) , 1102-12, (2015) or 10.1002/anie.201600521
Tetrahedron Letters
About the reaction of aryl fluorides with sodium sulfide: investigation into the selectivity of substitution of fluorobenzonitriles to yield mercaptobenzonitriles via SN Ar …
In this report we describe a simple synthesis of mercaptobenzonitriles from the reaction of fluorobenzonitriles with Na2S in DMF at room temperature and following direct treatment with Zn/HCl. Significantly, 2-and 4-fluorobenzonitriles substituted with chlorine or bromine, but not iodine, undergo selective substitution of fluorine at room temperature to yield synthetically useful halo-substituted mercaptobenzonitriles.