Nickel(II) chloride as an efficient and useful catalyst for chemoselective thioacetalization of aldehydes

A wide variety of acyclic and cyclic dithioacetals can be prepared chemoselectively from the corresponding aldehydes by employing a catalytic amount of nickel(II) chloride in dry CH2Cl2–MeOH (5:1) at room temperature in good yields. Some of the major advantages of this procedure are high chemoselectivity, ease of operation, high yields and also compatibility with other protecting groups.