Dihalo(imidazolium)sulfuranes: A Versatile Platform for the Synthesis of New Electrophilic Group-Transfer Reagents.

The syntheses of imidazolium thiocyanates and imidazolium thioalkynes from dihalo(imidazolium) sulfuranes are reported and their reactivities as CN(+) and R-CC(+) synthons evaluated, respectively. The easy and scalable preparation of these electrophilic reagents, their operationally simple handling, broad substrate scope, and functional group tolerance clearly illustrate the potential of these species to become a reference for the direct electrophilic cyanation and alkynylation of organic substrates.