simplicity. We found that Mannich bases of pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidines (R 1 = H, NH 2 ; R 2 = OH) had already been prepared with simple amines [15][16][17].In this paper we are going to present the synthesis of 2dimethylamino-pyrrolo [2,3-d]pyrimidine Mannich bases with 4-phenylpiperazines as new amine components.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONA short retrosynthetic consideration clarifies our approach. A pyrrole annulation on 6-aminopyrimidin-4(3H)-one with α-chloroacetone or α-chloroacetaldehyde will lead to pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-ones and a subsequent Mannich reaction with formaldehyde and phenylpiperazines will give rise to the title compounds.The starting material 6-aminopyrimidin-4(3H)-one 3 was easily prepared according to [18] by refluxing ethyl cyanoacetate and 1,1-dimethylaminoguanidine hydrochloride in a solution of sodium ethylate in ethanol for two hours. 6-Aminopyrimidin-4(3H)-one 3 was treated with α-chloroacetone (4) giving the new pyrrolo[2,3d]pyrimidin-4-one 5. Amongst others this methodology [19-21] was applied to synthesize the multi-targeted antifolate Pemetrexed [22]. In the range of this reaction other working groups have observed the formation of interesting by-products [21,23-25]. Already 1978 Secrist et al. had found out that besides the pyrrolo[2,3d]pyrimidin-4-one derivative a furo[2,3-d]pyrimidine-2,4diamine was formed [21]. Under our working conditions the pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidone 5 was isolated as the main product ready for a Mannich reaction. There are two ways commonly used to prepare Mannich bases. On the one hand the introduction of a dimethylaminomethyl group with the help of N,N-dimethyl methyleneimmonium chloride followed by an amine exchange reaction with other amines e.g. phenylpiperazines and on the other hand the direct access, three-component-one-pot reaction, to the title compounds 9a-e. We tried both ways in order to get the best yields.The pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-one 5 was stirred in dichloromethane solution with N,N-methyleneimmonium chloride (6) at rt overnight giving the Mannich base hydrochloride 7·HCl from which the free base 7 was liberated with sodium hydroxide. Although aminomethylation of pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-ones can take place at C-5 or C-6 [16,17], we made sure that substitution would occur only at C-5 by using the intermediate 5, in which C-6 is already substituted with a methyl group. After that the amine exchange reaction was performed with Mannich base 7 and 2-chlorophenylpiperazine (8b) in refluxing toluene. This long-known reaction is considered to involve an eliminationaddition mechanism via an enimine intermediate [17].We also tried to access the final products directly. Thus, compound 5, formaldehyde (37% aqueous solution) and