2
A. BHATT ET AL.
Isoxazoles are often synthesized through a [3 þ 2] cycloaddition of nitrile oxides with
alkynes or alkenes followed by oxidation.[16–18] As van Delft has noted, the thermal
[3 þ 2] cycloaddition method can suffer from low yields, side-reactions, and poor regio-
selectivity.[19] While transition metal mediated preparations of 3,5-disubstituted and 3,4-
disubstituted isoxazoles have been reported to provide satisfactory yields.[20,21]
The reaction of hydroxylamine with 1,3-dicarbonyl or a,b-unsaturated carbonyl com-
pounds, followed by an intramolecular oxidative cyclization provides another approach
to isoxazoles.[22,23] Since the oximes can be conveniently generated in high yield, the
oxidative cyclization of a,b-unsaturated oximes or b-keto oximes constitute the essential
step for the successful construction of the isoxazole framework.
Various oxidants such as 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyanobenzoquinone (DDQ),[24]
MnO2,[25] I2/KI in NaHCO3,[26] tetrakis(pyridine)cobalt dichromate (TPCD),[27]
[30]
2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO),[28] N-bromosuccinimide,[29] NOBF4,
[33]
and hypervalent iodine reagents, such as PhI(OCOCH3)2,[31,32], PhI(OCOCF3)2
are
widely employed to initiate the intramolecular oxidative cyclization. Microwave-
assisted synthesis of isoxazoles has also been reported.[34,35] There are a few reports
of one-pot synthesis of isoxazole.[36–38] However, the mentioned methods involve the
use of an expensive catalyst, tedious synthetic procedures, time taking reactions, and
unsatisfactory yields. Hence, the development of milder and more general procedures
to access isoxazole derivatives with high yields in short reaction time
remains desirable.
Trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA) is a versatile reagent and is becoming increasingly
popular because of its commercial availability at low cost and lesser corrosiveness. Our
continued interest in the development of useful synthetic methodologies prompted us to
explore the feasibility of TCCA for the one-pot synthesis of isoxazole derivatives with
high yields. However, it has not been investigated as a reagent in the synthesis of isoxa-
zole until now.
Result and discussion
Herein, we describe a convenient one-pot synthesis of 3,5- diarylisoxazoles from a,b
-unsaturated ketones. The parent chalcone 1a was prepared by Claisen–Schmidt con-
densation as per the reported literature procedure.[39,40] Our preliminary investigation
began with the reaction of Chalcone 1a and hydroxylamine hydrochloride in the
presence of TCCA (0.3 eq.) in methanol at ambient temperature. We were delighted
to observe the formation of the desired product 2a, albeit in a low yield of 55%
(Table 1, entry 1). Next, we optimized the reaction conditions in order to increase
the yield. Thus, different solvents were screened and the results are summarized in
Table 1. It was found that ethanol was the most superior solvent in terms of the
reaction time and yield of the product (Table 1, entry 2). Once we had established a
suitable solvent for the synthesis of an isoxazole, we then focused on the quantity of
TCCA. An increase in the amount of TCCA (from 0.3 eq to 1 eq) not only
decreased the reaction time from 1.5 h to 30 minutes, but also increased the product
yield from 55 to 85% (Table 1, entry 8). Further increasing the quantity of TCCA
(from 1 eq to 2 eq.) led to a decrease in the yield to 65% (Table 1, entry 9).