Microwave-assisted fluorous synthesis of a 1,4-benzodiazepine-2,5-dione library

Multicomponent reactions as a potent tool for the synthesis of benzodiazepines

Benzodiazepines (BZDs), a diverse class of benzofused seven-membered N-heterocycles, display essential pharmacological properties and play vital roles in some biochemical processes. They have mainly been prescribed as potential therapeutic agents, which interestingly represent various biological activities such as anticancer, anxiolytic, antipsychotic, anticonvulsant, antituberculosis, muscle relaxant, and antimicrobial activities. The extensive biological activities of BZDs in various fields have encouraged medicinal chemists to discover and design novel BZD-based scaffolds as potential therapeutic candidates with the favorite biological activity through an efficient protocol. Although certainly valuable and important, conventional synthetic routes to these bicyclic benzene compounds contain methodologies often requiring multistep procedures, which suffer from waste materials generation and lack of sustainability. By contrast, multicomponent reactions (MCRs) have recently advanced as a green synthetic strategy for synthesizing BZDs with the desired scope. In this regard, MCRs, especially Ugi and Ugi-type reactions, efficiently and conveniently supply various complex synthons, which can easily be converted to the BZDs via suitable post-transformations. Also, MCRs, especially Mannich-type reactions, provide speedy and economic approaches for the one-pot and one-step synthesis of BZDs. As a result, various functionalized-BZDs have been achieved by developing mild, efficient, and high-yielding MCR protocols. This review covers all aspects of the synthesis of BZDs with a particular focus on the MCRs as well as the mechanism chemistry of synthetic protocols. The present manuscript opens a new avenue for organic, medicinal, and industrial chemists to design safe, environmentally benign, and economical methods for the synthesis of new and known BZDs.

Synthesis of new tricyclic 5,6-dihydro-4H-benzo[b][1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-d][1,4]diazepine derivatives by [3+ + 2]-cycloaddition/rearrangement reactions

Two new series of tricyclic heterocycles, namely 5,6-dihydro-4H-benzo[b][1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-d][1,4]diazepinium salts 10 and the related neutral, free bases 13 were synthesized from 4-acetoxy-1-acetyl-4-phenylazo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines 8 and nitriles 9 in the presence of aluminium chloride by the [3⁺ + 2]-cycloaddition reaction of the in situ generated azocarbenium intermediates 14 followed by a ring-expansion rearrangement. In the rearrangement reaction, the phenyl substituent in the initially formed spiro-triazolium adducts 16 underwent a [1,2]-migration from C(3) to the electron-deficient N(2). This led to the ring expansion from 6-membered piperidine to 7-membered diazepine furnishing the tricyclic 1,2,4-triazole-fused 1,4-benzodiazepines.

Ugi-based approaches to quinoxaline libraries

An expedient and concise Ugi-based unified approach for the rapid assembly of quinoxaline frameworks has been developed. This convergent and versatile method uses readily available commercial reagents, does not require advanced intermediates, and exhibits excellent bond-forming efficiency, thus exemplifying the operationally simple synthesis of quinoxaline libraries.

Synthesis of cyclopentadiene-fused chromanones via one-pot multicomponent reactions

We have developed one-pot method for the synthesis of functionalized novel cyclopentadiene-fused chromanone scaffolds. A variety of 4-oxo-2,4-dihydrocyclopenta[c]chromene-1,2-dicarboxylates were obtained in moderate to good yields via condensation of 2-hydroxybenzaldehydes and ethyl acetoacetate with 1:1 acetylenecarboxylate-isocyanides in toluene. These reactions presumably proceed via reaction of the in situ generated 3-acetyl-2H-chromen-2-ones with acetylenecarboxylate-isocyanide zwitterionic intermediates through Michael addition/intramolecular cyclization and double [1,5] acyl shift rearrangement cascade.

Exploiting the acylating nature of the imide-Ugi intermediate: a straightforward synthesis of tetrahydro-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-ones

We describe a simple and novel protocol for the synthesis of tetrahydro-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-ones with three points of diversity, exploiting the acylating properties of the recently rediscovered Ugi-imide. The final compounds can be easily prepared in three synthetic steps using a multicomponent reaction, a Staudinger reduction, and an acylative protocol, with good to excellent yields for each synthetic step.

1,4-Thienodiazepine-2,5-diones via MCR (II): scaffold hopping by Gewald and Ugi-deprotection-cyclization strategy

A second scaffold of 1,4-thienodiazepine-2,5-diones was discovered and is synthetically accessible from Gewald 2-aminothiophenes via Ugi-Deprotection-Cyclization (UDC) strategy. This approach yielded hybrid peptidomimetic diazepine structures with six points of diversity introduced from readily available starting materials. A virtual compound library (N = 50 000) was generated and evaluated for chemical space distribution and drug-like properties.

Use of cyclohexylisocyanide and methyl 2-isocyanoacetate as convertible isocyanides for microwave-assisted fluorous synthesis of 1,4-benzodiazepine-2,5-dione library

A new protocol in which cyclohexylisocyanide and methyl 2-isocyanoacetate are used as convertible isocyanides for Ugi/de-Boc/cyclization/Suzuki synthesis of biaryl-substituted 1,4-benzodiazepine-2,5-diones has been developed. Ugi reactions of Boc-protected anthranilic acids, fluorous benzaldehydes, amines, and cyclohexylisocyanide or methyl 2-isocyanoacetate were carried out at room temperature. Microwave-promoted de-Boc/cyclization reactions afforded 1,4-benzodiazepine-2,5-diones (BZDs). Suzuki coupling reactions further derivatized the BZD ring by removing the fluorous tag and introducing the biaryl group. A thirty three-member biaryl-substituted BZD library containing four points of diversity was prepared by microwave-assisted solution-phase fluorous parallel synthesis.