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O
To prevent the production of 17 in the reaction using organo-
O
OMe
Me
Boc
Boc
lithium reagents, the substrate was changed from dihydropyrim-
idines to tetrahydropyrimidine 13. When 13 was reacted with
butyllithium (3.0 equiv) in THF at 0 °C, the desired 5-pentanoyl
tetrahydropyrimidine 14b (R = n-Bu) was obtained in a quantita-
tive yield without detection of any byproduct (Table 1, entry 1).
When less amount of butyllithium (1.5–2.0 equiv) than 3.0 equiv
was used in the reaction with 13, 14b was obtained but the reac-
tion was not completed by TLC analysis. Therefore, 3.0 equiv of
butyllithium was needed for complete consumption of 13. It is
probably due to the coordination of three nitrogen atoms of 4-
dimethylaminotetrahydropyrimidines 13 to deactivate organo-
lithium reagents. Because 14b was unstable during purification
by silica gel column chromatography, the crude product was trea-
ted with MeI to obtain 10b in 85% isolated yield in two steps from
13 (Table 1, entry 1).10 The reactivity of methylmagnesium bro-
mide with 13 was also tested. However, the reaction was slow even
at 40 °C for 41 h, and 5-acetyl tetrahydropyrimidine was produced
in only 12% yield. Thus, it was found that the use of tetrahydropy-
rimidine 13 as a substrate and organolithiums as alkylating
reagents gives 10 in high yield. Under the optimized reaction con-
ditions, various substrates were subjected to sequential reactions
to form 4,6-unsubstituted 5-acyl-2-phenyldihydropyrimidines 10,
and the results are summarized in Table 1. The reaction using
phenyllithium proceeded smoothly to afford the 5-benzoyl product
10c in 89% yield in two steps (entry 2). In entry 3, (phenylethynyl)
lithium also exhibited good reactivity, affording 10d in 86% yield.
Various aryllithiums, prepared in situ from corresponding aryl bro-
mide and t-butyllithium, reacted smoothly with 13 to give 5-ary-
loyl dihydropyrimidines 10e–h in good yields (entries 4–7). In
the case of entry 8, the reaction using heterocyclic 2-lithiated thio-
phene afforded 5-(2-thiophenecarbonyl)dihydropyrimidine 10i in
65% yield.
1. DIBAL-H (2.1 eq)
THF, 0 ºC, 0.5 h
N
N
N
H
N
NMe2
N
2. MeI (21 eq)
CH2Cl2, rt, 4 h
18
68%
13
O
1
Boc
(EtO)2PCH2CO2Et
CO2Et
(1.5 eq)
N
NaH (2.5 eq)
N
THF, 0 ºC, 0.5 h
19 93%
Scheme 6. Synthesis of 4,6-unsubstituted 5-formyl-2-phenyldihydropyrimidine 18
and Horner–Emmons reaction.
Table 2
Synthesis and 1H NMR analysis of N-unsubstituted dihydropyrimidines 11
O
O
O
TFA
1
HN
4
6
Boc
N
N
R
R
R
CH2Cl2
rt, 4 h
N
N
H
N
1
10
11
11
(1,6-isomer)
(1,4-isomer)
Entry
R
11
Yield %
Ratio of 1,4-/1,6-
tautomers 11
CD3OD
DMSO-d6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7a
n-Bu
Ph
11b
11c
11e
11f
11g
11h
11i
91
91
96
95
100
98
100
Single
Single
Single
Single
Single
Single
Single
Single
Single
Single
Single
1.3:1.0
Single
1.5:1.0
4-MeC6H4
4-MeOC6H4
4-CF3C6H4
2-naphthyl
4-ClC6H4
The synthesis of hitherto unavailable 5-formyl dihydropyrim-
idine 18 was examined (Scheme 6). When 13 was reacted with
diisobutylaluminum hydride (DIBAL-H) and MeI, two-step reac-
tions proceeded smoothly to give 5-formyl dihydropyrimidine 18
in 68% yield. Further transformation of the 5-formyl group of 18
was attempted; the Horner–Emmons reaction using triethyl phos-
phonoacetate and sodium hydride afforded novel dihydropyrim-
idine 19 having the conjugated ester group at 5-position in a
high yield of 93%.
a
Ref. 7e.
afford 11b in 91% yield (entry 1).11 The deprotection reactions of
10c–j with TFA also proceeded to give 11c–j in high yields, respec-
tively (entries 2–7). Subsequently, the tautomeric behaviors of
11b–j were analyzed by 1H NMR spectroscopy. The spectra were
measured in CD3OD and DMSO-d6 at 25 °C (0.01 M, 600 MHz).
While all dihydropyrimidines 11 were observed as a single isomer
(average spectrum of tautomers) in CD3OD, 11g and 11j were
observed as two independent isomers at ratios of 1.3:1.0 and
1.5:1.0 in DMSO-d6, respectively (entries 5 and 7). In the 1H NMR
spectrum of 11g in DMSO-d6, the observed signals of NH protons
[d 9.75 (major), d 9.00 (minor)] and 4-protons [d 4.51 (major), d
4.38 (minor)] indicated that thetwo isomers were 1,4- and 1,6-tau-
tomers. The major tautomer of 11g in DMSO-d6 was assigned to the
1,4-isomer because the 6-H vinyl proton (d 6.94) was observed as a
doublet peak by its coupling (J = 4.2 Hz) with the 1-NH proton (d
9.75). In the 1H NMR spectrum of 11j in DMSO-d6, the major tau-
tomer of 11j was assigned to the 1,4-isomer because the 6-H vinyl
proton (d 6.96) was observed as a doublet peak by its coupling
(J = 4.2 Hz) with the 1-NH proton (d 9.72). Therefore, 5-aryloyl-2-
phenyldihydropyrimidines having electron-withdrawing moieties,
such as trifluoromethyl or chloro groups at para-position, showed
relatively low rates of hydrogen transfer in tautomerism. In our
previous report, 2-phenyldihydropyrimidines having 5-carboxylic
acid ethyl ester or 5-phenylsulfonyl groups also showed similar
behaviors to 11g and 11j; the 1,4-isomers were observed as major
tautomers in DMSO-d6.7e These analytical results showed that the
property of 5-substituents in dihydropyrimidines affected the rate
of hydrogen transfer in tautomerism and the stability of each
tautomer.
The N-protecting group (Boc) was removed and N-unsubsti-
tuted dihydropyrimidines 11 were synthesized (Table 2). 10b
was treated with excess TFA in CH2Cl2 at room temperature to
Table 1
Synthesis of 4,6-unsubstituted 5-acyl-2-phenyldihydropyrimidines 10
O
O
6
OMe
Me
Boc
Boc
1. RLi (3.0 eq)
N
N
N
R
5
4
THF, 0 ºC, 0.5 h
N
NMe2
N
2
2. MeI (21 eq)
CH2Cl2, rt, 4 h
13
10
Entry
R
10
Yield %a
1b
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
n-Bu
Ph
10b
10c
10d
10e
10f
10g
10h
10i
85
89
86
80
79
76
76
65
Phenylethynyl
4-MeC6H4
4-MeOC6H4
4-CF3C6H4
2-Naphthyl
2-Thienyl
a
Yield in two steps from 13.
Reaction time was 1 h.
b