A Metal-Free Sulfenylation and Bromosulfenylation of Indoles: Controllable Synthesis of 3-Arylthioindoles and 2-Bromo-3-arylthioindoles

An efficient metal-free sulfenylation of indoles with disulfides has been developed, leading to 3-arylthioindoles in moderate to excellent yields. Furthermore, bromosulfenylation of indoles with disulfides has been realized for the first time providing a new family of 2-bromo-3-arylthioindole derivatives in good yield by the one-pot construction of C-S and C-Br bonds. It is noteworthy that the system enables the use of both the RS moieties in RSSR and shows a broad functional group tolerance.