The analogous alkylation of an acetate salt is rarely practiced. The alkylation can be conducted using Mannich bases and the thiocarboxylic acid:
CH3COSH + R'2NCH2OH → CH3COSCH2NR'2 + H2O
Thioesters can be prepared by condensation of thiols and carboxylic acids in the presence of dehydrating agents:[2][3]
RSH + R'CO2H → RSC(O)R' + H2O
A typical dehydration agent is DCC.[4] Efforts to improve the sustainability of thioester synthesis have also been reported utilising safer coupling reagent T3P and greener solvent cyclopentanone.[5]Acid anhydrides and some lactones also give thioesters upon treatment with thiols in the presence of a base.
In a related reaction, thioesters can be converted into esters.[9] Thioacetate esters can also be cleaved with methanethiol in the presence of stoichiometric base, as illustrated in the preparation of pent-4-yne-1-thiol:[10]
H3C(CH2)3OMs + KSAc → H3C(CH2)3SAc + KOMs
H3C(CH2)3SAc + HSMe → H3C(CH2)3SH + MeSAc
A reaction unique to thioesters is the Fukuyama coupling, in which the thioester is coupled with an organozinc halide by a palladium catalyst to give a ketone.
Thioesters are common intermediates in many biosynthetic reactions, including the formation and degradation of fatty acids and mevalonate, precursor to steroids. Examples include malonyl-CoA, acetoacetyl-CoA, propionyl-CoA, cinnamoyl-CoA, and acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesters. Acetogenesis proceeds via the formation of acetyl-CoA. The biosynthesis of lignin, which comprises a large fraction of the Earth's land biomass, proceeds via a thioester derivative of caffeic acid.[11] These thioesters arise analogously to those prepared synthetically, the difference being that the dehydration agent is ATP. In addition, thioesters play an important role in the tagging of proteins with ubiquitin, which tags the protein for degradation.
As posited in a "Thioester World", thioesters are possible precursors to life.[14] As Christian de Duve explains:
It is revealing that thioesters are obligatory intermediates in several key processes in which ATP is either used or regenerated. Thioesters are involved in the synthesis of all esters, including those found in complex lipids. They also participate in the synthesis of a number of other cellular components, including peptides, fatty acids, sterols, terpenes, porphyrins, and others. In addition, thioesters are formed as key intermediates in several particularly ancient processes that result in the assembly of ATP. In both these instances, the thioester is closer than ATP to the process that uses or yields energy. In other words, thioesters could have actually played the role of ATP in a "thioester world" initially devoid of ATP. Eventually, [these] thioesters could have served to usher in ATP through its ability to support the formation of bonds between phosphate groups.
However, due to the high free energy change of thioester's hydrolysis and correspondingly their low equilibrium constants, it is unlikely that these compounds could have accumulated abiotically to any significant extent especially in hydrothermal vent conditions.[15]
Thionoesters
Thionoesters are isomeric with thioesters. In a thionoester, sulfur replaces the carbonyl oxygen in an ester. Methyl thionobenzoate is C6H5C(S)OCH3. Such compounds are typically prepared by the reaction of the thioacyl chloride with an alcohol.[16]
Various thionoesters may be prepared through the transesterification of an existing methyl thionoester with an alcohol under base-catalyzed conditions.[17]
Xanthates[18] and thioamides[19] can be transformed to thionoesters under metal-catalyzed cross-coupling conditions.
^ abcMatthys J. Janssen "Carboxylic Acids and Esters" in PATAI's Chemistry of Functional Groups: Carboxylic Acids and Esters, Saul Patai, Ed. John Wiley, 1969, New York: pp. 705–764. doi:10.1002/9780470771099.ch15
^Fujiwara, S.; Kambe, N. (2005). "Thio-, Seleno-, and Telluro-Carboxylic Acid Esters". Topics in Current Chemistry. Vol. 251. Berlin / Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 87–140. doi:10.1007/b101007. ISBN978-3-540-23012-0.
^Jordan, Andrew; Sneddon, Helen F. (2019). "Development of a solvent-reagent selection guide for the formation of thioesters". Green Chemistry. 21 (8): 1900–1906. doi:10.1039/C9GC00355J. S2CID107391323.
^Wan Kit Chan; S. Masamune; Gary O. Spessard (1983). "Preparation of O-esters From The Corresponding Thiol Esters: Tert-butyl Cyclohexanecarboxylate". Organic Syntheses. 61: 48. doi:10.15227/orgsyn.061.0048.
^Dansette, P. M.; Rosi, J.; Debernardi, J.; Bertho, G.; Mansuy, D. (2012). "Metabolic Activation of Prasugrel: Nature of the Two Competitive Pathways Resulting in the Opening of Its Thiophene Ring". Chemical Research in Toxicology. 25 (5): 1058–1065. doi:10.1021/tx3000279. PMID22482514.