Rhodanine and its derivatives have been known as privileged structures in pharmacological research because of their wide spectrum of biological activities, but the synthesis method of rhodanine skeleton is limited. In this paper, not only rhodanine skeleton, but also N-aryl rhodanines can be directly prepared via the reaction of thioureas and thioglycolic acid in one step catalyzed by protic acid, which provides a new approach of the synthesis of rhodanine and its derivatives. The developed strategy is straightforward, efficient, atom economical, and convenient in good yields.

中文翻译：

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罗丹宁及其衍生物的合成新策略

罗丹宁及其衍生物由于其广泛的生物活性而在药理学研究中被称为特权结构，但罗丹宁骨架的合成方法受到限制。本文通过质子酸催化硫脲与巯基乙酸的反应，不仅可以直接制备罗丹宁骨架，而且可以直接制备N-芳基罗丹宁，为罗丹宁及其衍生物的合成提供了一种新途径。所开发的策略是简单，高效，原子经济的，并且产率高。