The aim of this work was the development of an efficient method for the synthesis of substituted cinnolines using catalytic amounts of p-toluenesulfonic acid. The optimized method was used for the synthesis of a series of substituted cinnolines, which were characterized by means of nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry and high-pressure liquid chromatography.
We have developed a simple method for diazotization of weakly basic anilines in the presence of p-toluensulfonic acid, which acts as proton donor and stabilizing anion, and tert-butyl nitrite as nitrogen source. The isolated diazonium tosylates show great stability over a longer period of time without loss of reactivity. The latter was confirmed by azo coupling reaction with activated arenes yielding azo dyes. The optimized diazotization reaction conditions were further used on electron rich anilines, i.e. 1,2-benzodiamine and 2-isopropenylaniline. As expected, the two reactive anilines yielded cyclic products.
Furthermore, we investigated the cyclization of different o-vinylanilines to cinnolines. For that purpose, a series of substituted o-vinylanilines was synthesised from the corresponding anilines and phenylacetilenes. The reaction takes place in the presence of heterogeneous catalyst montmorillonite K-10 in the absence of solvent.
The synthesized o-vinylanilines were additionally converted into the cyclic cinnolines. A model reaction was used to optimize acid loadings, solvent nature and reaction times. Applying the optimized conditions to o-vinylanilines in the presence of tert-butyl nitrite and catalytic amounts of p-toluensulfonic acid leads to the formation of substituted cinnolines.
Moreover, the reaction mechanism of the described transformation was studied. Employing a solution state density functional theory simulations as well as preliminary kinetic studies gave strong support towards a reaction mechanism that proceeds via the diazonium salt formation. Additionally, it was suggested that p-toluensulfonic acid acts as a catalytic proton shuttle between two tautomeric intermediates. This mechanistic study has also offered insight into diazotization of anilines by using organic nitrite, which is fundamentaly different from previously described reactions.
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