NEW SYNTHESES OF TETRATHIAFULVALENE

Tetrathiafulvalene (TTF, 1) is known to be a superior π donor in the formation of highly conducting charge-transfer complexes.1 Although this compound was first prepared by coupling of the 1, 3-dithiolium cation, 2 although the method by Melby, Harzler, and Sheppard3 seems to be suitable for preparing large amounts of TTF, and although the procedure by Wudl et al.14 might be preferred for a small scale preparation, we report here new facile syntheses of TTF utilizing tetrakis(carbomethoxy)-(2),5 tetracarboxv-(3),5 and dicarboxytetrathiafulvalenes (4),3, 5 which have been prepared during the course of our systematic studies6 on the reactions of isotrithiones with trialkyl phosphites. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.