Benzo-oxathiin-S-oxides 9b and 9c can undergo a Retro Diels-Alder (RDA
) reaction to form ortho-thioquinone-S-oxides 12 and 11. These hithert
o unknown reactive intermediates can be successfully generated as func
tion of the geometry of the starting sulfoxides and the type of aromat
ic system involved, and can be trapped as electron poor dienes or dien
ophiles. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd