• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.3583-3587
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• 2010

Furoxanthiols PFT and BPFT possessing thiomethyl or thiobenzyl groups in the furoxan ring were designed and synthesized as potential light-sensitive alkyne precursors on a gold surface. The synthesis of thiofuroxans PFT and BPFT was performed from the corresponding halofuroxans 1b and 2c, respectively, by the substitution with potassium thioacetate in ethyl acetate/ethanol or DMF, followed by basic hydrolysis as the key reactions. Electron-beammediated fragmentation of furoxans 1c and 2d in a mass spectrometer afforded the corresponding aryl alkyne fragments, with the evolution of NO in high preference. In the cases of thiofuroxans PFT and BPFT, carbon-sulfur bond cleavage was observed as a representative fragmentation, producing M-SH and M-SAc peaks, which competed with the release of NO. In the fragmentation of mono-aryl furoxan 1c, the release of molecule of NO was predominately observed to produce an M-NO fragment as a base peak by the formation of trimembered thiiranium or azirine intermediate.