Exploring the Reactivity of Electrophilic Organic Carbonates and Thiocarbonates as Vehicles to Convert Hydrosulfide into COS and CS.

Hydrogen sulfide (HS) and other reactive sulfur species are important small molecules with biological significance. In addition to common reactive sulfur species like HS, polysulfides, and persulfides, both carbonyl sulfide (COS) and carbon disulfide (CS) have been postulated to be potential sources of reduced sulfur. To better understand this possible connection, we demonstrate that HS can be converted to COS and CS by reaction with simple organic carbonate and thiocarbonate electrophiles, respectively.