Contribution of Professor Charles Rees to the development of the chemistry of disulfur dichloride

Sulfur transfer reagents play an important role in organic synthesis, and sulfur chlorides, especially disulfur dichloride, are exceptional examples. Professor Charles Rees proposed novel strategies for preparing sulfurnitrogen heterocycles from readily available organic substrates using disulfur dichloride. Together with his coworkers, he developed cascade transformations for synthesizing a wide range of heterocyclic systems, including 1,2-dithioles, 1,2,3,4,5-pentathiepins, 1,2,3-dithiazoles, 1,2,5-thiadiazoles, 1,4-thiazines, and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7-heptathiocanes. This review highlights Professor Rees's contributions to the chemistry of disulfur dichloride.