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R. SAMANDRAM ET AL.
Introduction
The quinazoline ring system is an important structural unit frequently encountered in
medicinal chemistry as well as in organic synthesis.[1–3] Many alkaloids containing qui-
nazoline skeletons are known.[4–6] They constitute an important class of compounds
with anticonvulsant, antibacterial, antidiabetic, and anticancer activities.[1,7–10] Many
methods for the synthesis of quinazoline derivatives are known.[11–15] In an earlier
study, we have reported the synthesis of quinazoline-1-ols and their ring expansion
upon carbamoylation with aryl isocyanates.[16] Later on, 2-substituted-1,2,3,4-tetrahy-
droquinazolines were oxidized using the H2O2-tungstate system to give regioselectively
the corresponding quinazoline-1-oxides.[17] In the same report, the photochemical and
thermal behavior of the latter was discussed in detail. Afterward, a significant number
of studies on the synthesis of quinazoline-3-oxides have appeared in the literature.[18–21]
According to one approach,[18] 1,2-dihydroquinazoline-3-oxides were converted
to 4-methyl-2-substituted quinazolines by visible light irradiation. It was assumed a
light-induced water elimination from the dihydroquinazoline-3-oxide to give the
corresponding quinazoline. The water elimination in the case of 4-methyl-2-(4-nitro-
phenyl)-1,2-dihydroquinazoline-3-oxide was reported to be unsuccessful. A series of 2,4-
disubstituted quinazoline-3-oxides were synthesized by oxidation of the corresponding
1,2-dihydroquinazoline-3-oxides using activated MnO2.[22] This novel approach is sim-
ple and convenient and provides a series of 2,4-disubstituted quinazoline-3-oxides.
Hydrogen peroxide is a widely used green oxidant for many transformations.[23]
Oxidations of various organic compounds with aqueous H2O2 in the presence of cata-
lytic amounts of pharmacologically harmless tungstates are described in the
literature.[24]
In this work, the synthesis of 1,2-dihydroquinazoline-3-oxides and their eco-friendly
transformation into quinazoline-3-oxides using H2O2-tungstate oxidant system is
reported (Scheme 1).
Results and discussion
As a continuation of our investigations on the reactions of cyclic nitrones like 3,4-dihy-
droisoquinoline-2-oxides[25]
and
2,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole-3-oxides[26,27]
and
photochemical conversions of quinazoline-1-oxides[17] we needed a series of 4-unsubsti-
tuted-quinazoline-3-oxides 3a–j to investigate their photochemical as well as thermal
behaviors. To begin with, we have prepared first compounds 2a–j from the reaction of
amino oximes 1 with the corresponding aldehydes[18,28] (Scheme 1). The optimization
Scheme 1. The synthesis of 1,2-dihydroquinazoline- and quinazoline-3-oxides.