The feasibility of insertions of carbanions between two sulfur atoms has been reported when 5-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-cyano-1,2-dithiol-3-thione (1) and tetramethylthiuram disulfide (17) were allowed to react with unsaturated 2a,b and active phosphonium salts 11a,b. The reactions afforded, mainly, 1,3-dithiols 4a,b and 14a,b together with substituted thiophenes 10a,b and 16a,b. Reactions of 1 and 17 with α-alkylthiomethyl phosphonates 24a,b afforded the phosphonates 25a,b and 26a,b, respectively.J. Heterocyclic Chem., 42, 103 (2005).Literature reports the synthesis and utility of many thiol and dithiol derivatives as insecticides, fungicides and seed protectants [1][2][3] as well as being useful as antioxidants and in volcanization processes [4]. In addition, they are known to possess therapeutic values in controlling diseases, such as pneumonea [5]. For these reasons, the chemistry of the sulfur-sulfur bond continues to be an active area of research from both a mechanistic and a synthetic point of view. The mechanism of nucleophilic attack by carbenoids, carbenes and phosphorus ylides on the S-S linkage in dithiols, followed by substitution reaction at the heteroatomic center (S, N, …etc), has been a major point of interest for research in the last three decades [6,7]. For the past few years, one of our research directions has centered on the synthesis of thiols, dithiols and phosphorylated sulfur compounds, derived from the reactions of acyclic and cyclic cis-disulfides with P(III) and P(V) reagents [8]. Preliminary results in a screening assay of selected synthesized compounds showed pesticidal and pharmacological activity. The work described in this article involved the reactions of 5-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-cyano-1,2-dithiol-3-thione (1) and tetramethylthiuram disulfide (17) with unsaturated-2a,b and active-11a,b phosphonium salts as well as the phosphonate carbanions 24a,b. The reactions, depicted in Schemes 1-7, led to the synthesis of the title compounds: new S-heterocycles, dithiocarbamyls and their phosphono derivatives, for biological evaluation. The results are compared and discussed, together with other published researchs in this area.Reaction of 1,2-dithiol (1) with vinyltriphenylphosphonium bromide (2a, 2 molar amounts) in a mixture of 40 ml of dimethylformamide (DMF) and 10 ml of LiOH (0.5 M) yielded 6-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-cyano-2-methyl (4H)-1,3-dithiacyclohexene-4-thione (4a, 43%) and 5-(4-chlorophenyl)-6-methyl-(4H)-4-oxothienothiapyran (10a, 21%) (Scheme 1). The products 4a and 10a were obtained in similar ratio, irrespective of the number of mole equivalents of 2a that was used.The formation of 4a and 10a could be attributed to initial attack by the carbanion center of 2a on the cleaved -S-S-linkage, initiated by the alkaline medium [6c,e]. This attack led to the formation of zwitterion 3a, which, subsequently, could follow two different pathways: i) Intramolecular cyclization and hydrolysis yielding 4a with concomitant elimination of triphenylphosphine oxide. Similar insertion reaction has been reporte...