Solvent-Driven Iodine-Mediated Oxidative Strategies for the Synthesis of Bis(imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-yl)sulfanes and Disulfanes.

Two efficient iodine-mediated strategies, which are economical and one-pot, are described to access bis(imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-yl)sulfanes and bis(imidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-3-yl)disulfanes in chloroform and acetic acid, respectively, by a direct oxidative homocoupling of imidazo-heterocycles using inexpensive sodium sulfide as a sulfur source. These strategies are scalable, and an array of substrates delivered their corresponding stable sulfur-bridged imidazo-heterocycles in excellent yields.