AQUEOUS HIGH-TEMPERATURE CHEMISTRY OF CARBOCYCLES AND HETEROCYCLES .13. SULFIDES AND DISULFIDES

Diphenyl sulfide and phenyl methyl sulfide are almost unreactive at 250 °C under both aqueous and thermal conditions. Benzyl phenyl sulfide and phenyl γ-phenylpropyl sulfide show some conversion on thermolysis but less on aquathermolysis. Phenyl β-phenylethyl sulfide, dibenzyl sulfide, and all the disulfides are much more reactive and give a wide variety of products under both sets of conditions. The structures of all products have been elucidated and reaction sequences for their formation suggested. These preliminary results indicate that thermal radical mechanisms would predominate over aqueous ionic mechanisms in the reactions of organic sulfides and disulfides during the steam stimulation process used to recover heavy bitumens. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.