Abstract

Nitrile sulfides, X – C≡N→S, are important transient species in organic synthesis and widely used for dipolar cycloaddition reactions. Nitrile selenides have the potential to become important dipolarophiles in preparative chemistry, however, their chemistry is largely unexplored. This review article focuses on generation, spectroscopic identification, structure, and synthetic applications of nitrile sulfides and nitrile selenides.

Keywords: Nitrile sulfides, nitrile selenides, synthesis, spectroscopy, structure, applications, benzonitrile selenide, thermolysis, photolysis, photofragmentation, flash vacuum pyrolysis (PVF), biological activity, dendrodoine, antiviral nucleoside ribavirin