A bifunctional aromatic thiol bearing two fluorine atoms at the 2- and 5-positions. The strong electron-withdrawing effect (pKa ≈ 5.8) makes the thiol highly nucleophilic under mild conditions and thermally stable up to 280 °C. Key applications include:
High-refractive-index poly(aryl sulfide) resins (nD ≈ 1.68) for 5G lens substrates and OLED encapsulation films;
Electron-poor aryl-sulfide ligands for Cu- or Pd-catalysed cross-couplings and photoredox transformations;
Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold, providing hydrophobic yet polar surfaces for SERS sensors and MEMS anti-stiction layers;
Agro-chemical intermediates via Cu-coupling to give 2,5-difluoro-aryl sulfides active as rice-blast fungicides;
Benzothiazole UV-absorbers – cyclisation with aldehydes affords 2-substituted-4,7-difluorobenzothiazoles with λmax 350 nm.
Store under nitrogen at 2–8 °C, protect from oxidants to prevent disulfide formation.
