Patent ID: 7632966

Claim:
A process comprising: reacting a thiol, RSH, sequentially with sodium or potassium t-butoxide, carbon disulfide and iodine in a solvent mixture comprising 80-99 vol % of a first solvent and 120 vol % of second solvent to form RSC(S)SSC(S)SR; wherein R= a substituted or unsubstituted C 1 -C 20 linear or C 3 -C 6 cyclic alkyl, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl, or a heterocyclic group; the first solvent is selected from a group consisting of C 5 -C 10 n-alkanes and cyclic alkanes; and the second solvent is selected from a group consisting of ethers with a solvent polarity parameter, E t (30), of at least 36 kcalmol 1 .