Microwave-assisted copper-catalyzed preparation of diaryl chalcogenides

Diaryl chalcogenide synthesis employing diaryl dichalco-genides and aryl halides as starting materials in the presence of excess magnesium and a catalytic amount of CuI/bipyridyl is significantly improved by microwave heating. Reaction times can be reduced from 2 to 3 days to 6-8 h. Both aryl bromides and aryl chlorides can be used as substrates in the substitution reaction. The procedure is useful not only for diaryl sulfide and diaryl selenide synthesis but also for the preparation of unsymmetrical diaryl tellurides. Starting from suitable aryl halides, the novel microwave-assisted procedure was used for the facile preparation of novel chalcogen analogues (PhS-, PhSe-, and PhTe-) of various antioxidants (ethoxyquin and 3-pyridinol). Attempts to use dialkyl dichal-cogenides for the coupling of alkylchalcogeno moieties to aryl halides were only successful in the case of long-chain (such as n-octyl) disulfides and diselenides.