Substituted phenyl thiobenzoates1represent a new a quite interesting class of liquid crystals which are reported to have wider nematic ranges and higher dielectric anistropies than their corresponding phenyl benzoate analogs. At present, however, very few substituted thiophenols are commercially available and laboratory synthetic routes to many such compounds can be difficult. This is especially the case with 4-cyanothiophenol, whose synthesis has been accomplished by reaction of 4-cyanobenzene diazonium ion with potassium ethyl xanthate and hydrolysis of the resulting ester.IcFor the syntheses of 4-cyano and 4-butylthiophenol, we report here an application of the method of Newman and Karnes.2