The synthesis of trifluoromethyl (CF 3 )-substituted heteroaromatic compounds has received considerable interest since many of them sometimes exhibit unique chemical, physiological or physical properties.1) The search for a simple and efficient access to heteroaromatic compounds with a CF 3 group at a specific position is an important goal in this area.
2)Imidazole and its derivatives are an important class of heterocycles and many naturally occurring imidazoles are known to possess biological activity.3) The imidazole nucleus is also a major component of a variety of drugs such as angiotensin II receptor antagonists, oral antiinflammatory agents, protein kinase inhibitors and fungisides.4) Furthermore, CF 3 -substituted imidazoles have found applications in the medicinal and agrochemical fields.
5)In the course of our studies on the reactivities of mesoionic 1,3-oxazolium-5-olates, 6) we have focused on 4-trifluoroacetyl-1,3-oxazolium-5-olates (1) as useful synthons for CF 3 -substituted heterocycles.
7)Compound 1 could easily be prepared from N-acyl-Nalkylglycines 2 with trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAA). 8) In general, the mesoionic 1,3-oxazolium-5-olates are too unstable to be isolated and are utilized in situ.6) However, compound 1 with a 4-trifluoroacetyl group can be isolated and stored for several months. It is reported that compound 1 showed high reactivity towards nucleophilic reagents such as H 2 O, EtOH, and AcOH, bringing about ring-opening reactions.8) These reactions occur via an initial attack of a nucleophile on the C-5 position of the ring. 7d) We have examined the reactions of 1 with N-nucleophiles such as amidines, 7a) ammonia, 7b) hydrazines, 7c) and aminomalonate. 7e) In principle, nucleophilic reagents can be expected to be added to one of the three electrophilic centers at C-2, C-5, and COCF 3 in 1.Combinatorial chemistry has emerged as a powerful tool for accelerating the synthesis and screening of diverse collections of molecules.9,10) The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of polymer-bound munchnones with a variety of alkynes has been developed to produce a library of up to 10 8 different pyrroles.11) The solid-phase synthesis of non-fluorinated imidazoles is reported to utilize a munchnone cycloaddition to aryltosylimines. 12) Recently, the reaction of 1 with amidines 7a) has also been applied to a combinatorial solidphase synthesis to prepare a library of two hundred 5-trifluoroacetylimidazoles by Hamper et al.13) Thus, munchnone chemistries are suitable to develop new synthesis in combinatorial chemistry.We now present a full account of the reactions of 1 with ammonia 7b) and a new synthesis of 4-trifluoromethylimidazoles (4).
Results and DiscussionThe 4-trifluoroacetyl-1,3-oxazolium-5-olates (1a-d) required for this study were prepared by the reaction of N-acyl-N-alkylglycines (2a-d) with TFAA. The derivatives employed in this study, along with the products (3a-i and 4a-i), are summarized in Chart 1. Table 1 shows the results when 4-trifluoroacetyl-1,3-oxazolium-5-olate (1a) was allowed ...