“…17,18 A ring substituted derivative, 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-thiopyran-4-thione, dithiomaltol or Httma, was first reported by Brayton, and displayed unusual aromaticity characterized by a downfield shift in the vinylic proton peaks in the 1 H NMR. 19 Recently we reported that the bis-bipyridyl Ru complex of dithiomaltol, [Ru(bpy) 2 (ttma)][PF 6 ] or 1, undergoes C-H activation at a pendant alkyl position upon electrochemical or bulk oxidation, yielding [Ru(bpy) 2 (ttma-alcohol)] + 2 and [Ru(bpy) 2 (ttma-aldehyde)] + 3 as products, Scheme 1. 20 In this report we examine the photo-initiation of similar oxidative reactivity for compound 1 and the homoleptic Zn(ttma) 2 complex, 4, using flash quench methodology, 21 employing electron acceptors 4,4′-dimethyl-1,1′-trimethylene-2,2′dipyridinium (DTDP 2+ ), 1,1′-dimethyl-4,4′-bipyridinium (MV 2+ ), Co(NH 3 ) 5 Cl 2+ , Ru(NH 3 ) 6 3+ , and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4benzoquinone (DDQ), Scheme 2.…”