A Highly Efficient Palladium-Catalyzed One-Pot Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Aryl Alkyl Thioethers under Mild Conditions in Water

A palladium-catalyzed, one-pot synthesis of unsymmetrical aryl alkyl thioethers involving aryl halides (aryl bromides and chlorides), thiourea and alkyl bromides has been realized under mild conditions (room temperature to 50?degrees C) in water with polyoxyethanyl a-tocopheryl sebacate (PTS) as amphiphile. The PTS/water could be recycled in up to eight runs without an obvious change in its activity.