Regioselective hydrothiolation of alkenes bearing heteroatoms with thiols catalyzed by palladium diacetate.

In sharp contrast to many examples of transition-metal-catalyzed hydrothiolation of alkynes, the corresponding catalytic addition of thiols to alkenes has remained undeveloped. However, a novel Pd-catalyzed addition of thiols to alkenes bearing a heteroatom, such as oxygen and nitrogen, is found to proceed under mild conditions to give the corresponding Markovnikov adducts, regioselectively, in good yields.