Green and Highly Efficient Alkylation of Thiols in Water

An environmentally benign and efficient process for the preparation of thioethers was developed by simple and practical reactions of alkyl halides and thiols in water in the presence of K2CO3 or Et3N in very high yields. The reaction of aryl, alkyl, aliphatic and hindered thiols with various alkyl halides gave the corresponding products with significant advantages such as high conversions, short reaction time, mild reaction conditions, and low cost, simple workup with good to quantitative yields.