N2S2 and N4S4 precursors to PS2 macrocycles and cyclic amidinium salts.

The cyclo-condensation of 1R,2R-diaminocyclohexane with 2,2'-(ethane-1,2-diyldisulfanediyl)dibenzaldehyde gave the 1 : 1 addition compound chxn-(im)N2S2 in high yield. When the same condensation reaction was performed with 1R,3S-diamino-1,7,7-trimethylcyclopentane as the diamine, the 2 : 2 addition compound tmcp-(im)N4S4 was obtained selectively. Reduction of the diimines gave the saturated analogues chxn-N2S2 (1) and tmcp-N4S4 (3) the former of which could be phosphorylated with PhP(NMe2)2 to give the novel 13-membered macrocycle chxn-PS2, 2.