Regiocontrolled synthesis of enantiopure 3,3 '-thiosubstituted biphenyls

Sulfenylation of 6,6'-dimethoxy-2,2'-dihydroxybiphenyl, used as a racemic mixture and single enantiomers, by phthalimidesulfenyl chloride afforded the corresponding 3,3'-N,N'-dithiophthalimide with complete regioselectivity. Simple manipulations of the latter compound allowed access to the corresponding bis-thiol or o-thioquinone as useful intermediates for the synthesis of new sulfur-containing open-chain and macrocyclic C-2 enantiopure ligands. The application of this methodology to the preparation of a biphenyl bearing two cysteine units as potential HIV-1 protease inhibitor is also described.