
Why did swimming pools get mentioned in two of the presentations at the recent Organic Process R&D conference in Clearwater, Florida?
Yes, there was a very nice pool at the hotel, but that was not the reason.
The first mention was in the opening lecture of the conference by Dr Yi-Yin Ku of Abbott Laboratories and concerned the use of dichlorodimethylhydantoin (DCDMH) as a reagent for chloroxidation of sulphides to sulphonyl chlorides.

Yields are 80-90% for shloroxidation of aryl and heteroaryl benzyl sulphides. The reaction also works equally well with diaryl sulphides such as Ar-S-S-Ar as substrates, but does not work with ArSMe as substrates. DCDMH is a cheap reagent because it is used as a bleach in swimming pools.
The second mention of swimming pools also related to a bleaching reagent – N-chlorosuccinimide. This appeared in the presentation by Dr Johan Chan of Amgen who was describing the chlorination of a benzylic CH2 group.















