S. C. Johns et al. / Tetrahedron Letters 55 (2014) 3308–3311
3309
tic and boric acid giving moderate to high yields (most often 40–
70%) of isoalloxazines.16 In order to increase the rate of this reac-
tion, we again attempted this reaction under microwave irradia-
tion. Condensation of alloxan monohydrate with the acridine salt
6a in the absence of boric acid, even at elevated temperatures
(140 °C) did not occur in MeOH or AcOH to any measurable extent.
The reaction was successful in AcOH with one equivalent of boric
acid giving the product 7a in excellent yield (95%, 140 °C, 10 min,
Table 1, entry 2). Chauhan et al. have reported the condensation
of some alkyl and aryl substituted 2-aminoanilines with alloxan
monohydrate under microwave irradiation in a domestic micro-
wave oven to give 10-substituted isoalloxazines in good yield.17
The use of our own conditions gave the product isoalloxazine 7a
rapidly in high yield and purity, after precipitation, filtration and
washing (including water washes to remove boric acid), without
recourse to column chromatography (85% over 2 steps from 4a).
Preparation of a range of 9-chloroacridines was performed fol-
lowing reported methods (Scheme 2)18 via reaction of anilines 2
with several 2-chlorobenzoic acids 1.19 The formed crude N-aryl
anthranillic acids 3 were then ring-closed with POCl3 under micro-
wave irradiation.20 The desired 9-chloroacridines 4 could be iso-
lated by a variety of methods including vacuum sublimation,
vacuum filtration through a pad of silica gel or recrystallisation
to give single compounds. Several greener methods have been
reported in the literature for the synthesis of N-aryl anthranilic
acids including solvent-free conditions with microwave irradia-
tion21 and the use of ultrasound in aqueous solution.22
O
N
N
N
NH
O
Isoalloxazine
N10-C9' bonded
Acridine
N
Figure 1. Structures of isoalloxazine and acridine.
NO2
NO2
X
R2
NH
Cl
R2
R1
N
Base
R1
N
Route A
X=NH2
Zn/H+
NH2
Δ
NH2
Route B
X=Cl
O
N
NH2
NH
N
.HCl
NH
Alloxan.H2O
N
O
R2
R2
AcOH
B(OH)3
R1
N
R1
N
Scheme 1. Routes to isoalloxazine–acridine conjugates. Route A: previously
The optimised conditions were applied to a range of acridines
4a–g derived from 2,4-dichlorobenzoic acid (Scheme 3, Table 1).
Several different phenylene diamines 5a–c were used to vary the
electronics of the isoalloxazine system and to make flavin deriva-
tives, giving the corresponding products 6, 60 or 600 in moderate
to high yields as the corresponding hydrochloride salts.23 The low-
est yield was obtained from 2,4-dimethoxyacridine 4c, which has
the most electron-rich C9 position (69%, Table 1, entry 6). In all
cases the reaction was highly regioselective with no evidence of
any reaction with the 6-chloro group. The isoalloxazines 7, 70, 700
were formed in all cases,24 however, in several examples, the final
compounds were contaminated with by-products, often from
residual phenylene diamines present in the intermediate hydro-
chloride salts. Attempted purification of several products that were
of unacceptable purity by column chromatography or recrystallisa-
tion was particularly difficult due to the insolubility of the acri-
dine–isoalloxazines 7. It was discovered that the majority of
impurities could be removed by high temperature extraction/
recrystallisation in methanol under microwave irradiation (see
Supplementary information), and the purified yields are reported
in parentheses. Extraction in a sealed system at high temperature
attempted three-step route. Route B: a new two-step route.
heating, potentially resulting in fewer by-products resulting from
localised hotspots.14 Performing the reaction under conditions of
microwave irradiation (110 °C, 10 min) resulted in a much faster,
and pleasingly, a higher yielding reaction (Table 1, entry 2),
although heating the reaction at higher temperature (140 °C) did
result in decreased purity. During this work, Staderini et al.
reported a solvent-free microwave route for amination of
p-elec-
tron deficient heterocycles including acridines; in their cases the
reactions were promoted by the addition of two equivalents of
phenol, giving excellent yields.15 Conventional conditions for con-
densation of 2-aminoanilines with alloxan monohydrate generally
require prolonged (P12 h) stirring at room temperature with ace-
Table 1
Synthesis of acridine–isoalloxazines 7a–g and intermediate diaryl amines 6a–g
derived from 6,9-dichloroacridines 4a–g
Entry Starting
material
R2
R3
R4
R5
Yield 6a
(%)
Yield 7b
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
4a
4a
4a
4a
4b
4c
4d
4d
4e
4f
H
H
H
H
H
H
OMe
OMe
H
OMe
OMe
OMe
OMe
H
OMe OMe
H
H
Me
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
6a:53c
6a:93
N/Dd
7a:95%
CO2H
Me 6a0:91
7a0:86%
7a00:92%
7b:(76%)e
7c:(68%)e
7d:(84%)e
7d00:(38%)e
7e:86%
R1
Cl
6a00:90
6b:83
6c:69
6d:83
6d00:84
6e:95
6f:96
CO2H
NH
Cl
H
H
H
1
OMe
R1
R2
Cu/K2CO3
R4
R3
OMe
OMe Cl
H
Me
H
DMF Δ
R2
R3
H2N
H
H
H
R4
10
11
H
H
7f:(61%)e
7g:83%
3
2
4g
H
6g:82
a
Cl R2
Isolated yields after precipitation from Et2O, filtration, washing and drying
(1 mmol scale).
R3
POCl3
b
Isolated yields after precipitation from Et2O, filtration, washing and drying
R1
N
μW 140 °C,
(0.5 mmol scale).
R4
c
15 min
Heating under reflux for 1.5 h.
Not determined, see entry 2.
Pro rata after high temperature microwave extraction/recrystallisation of a
d
4
e
150 mg portion of the crude product (see Supplementary information).
Scheme 2. Preparation of the 9-chloroacridine starting materials 4.