Pd-catalyzed oxidative amination of 2-alkenylquinazolin-4(3H)-ones: synthesis of methylene and vinyl derivatives of pyrrolo(pyrido)[2,1-b]quinazolinones.

When treated with the catalytic system Pd(OAc)2/PPh3/Cs2CO3/benzoquinone in dioxane or Pd(PPh3)2Cl2/t-BuONa/Cs2CO3/benzoquinone in toluene, 2-butenylquinazolin-4(3H)-ones undergo intramolecular aza-Wacker cyclization to give methylene-substituted pyrrolo(pyrido)[2,1-b]quinazolinones. The latter catalytic system is also efficient in the reaction of pentenyl(hexenyl)quinazolin-4(3H)-ones but, in these cases, the aminopalladation of C-H multiple bonds significantly competed with allylic C(sp3)-H bond activation which leads to hitherto unknown vinyl-substituted pyrrolo(pyrido)[2,1-b]quinazolinones.

The PIFA-initiated oxidative cyclization of 2-(3-butenyl)quinazolin-4(3H)-ones - an efficient approach to 1-(hydroxymethyl)-2,3-dihydropyrrolo[1,2-a]quinazolin-5(1H)-ones.

A regioselective method for the synthesis of 1-(hydroxymethyl)-2,3-dihydropyrrolo[1,2-a]quinazolin-5(1H)-ones - close structural analogs of naturally occurring vasicinone alkaloids - is described. The procedure is based on PIFA-initiated oxidative 5-exo-trig cyclization of 2-(3-butenyl)quinazolin-4(3Н)-ones, in turn prepared by thermal cyclocondensation of the corresponding 2-(pent-4-enamido)benzamides. The products obtained have a good natural product likeness (NPL) score and therefore can be useful for the design of natural product-like compound libraries.

Oxa-spirocycles: synthesis, properties and applications.

A general approach to a new generation of spirocyclic molecules - oxa-spirocycles - was developed. The key synthetic step was iodocyclization. More than 150 oxa-spirocyclic compounds were prepared. Incorporation of an oxygen atom into the spirocyclic unit dramatically improved water solubility (by up to 40 times) and lowered lipophilicity. More potent oxa-spirocyclic analogues of antihypertensive drug terazosin were synthesized and studied in vivo.