A facile and general synthesis of various N-substituted cyanamides was accomplished by the Tiemann rearrangement of amidoximes with benzenesulfonyl chlorides (TsCl or o-NsCl) and DIPEA.

The reaction of methyl anthranilates with N-arylcyanamides in the presence of p-TsOH in t-BuOH under reflux afforded predominantly 3-arylquinazolin-4-ones. In contrast, the reaction of the same reactants with TMSCl in t-BuOH at 60 °C followed by the Dimroth rearrangement in aqueous ethanolic sodium hydroxide gave exclusively the regioisomers, 2-(N-arylamino)quinazolin-4-ones. The regioselective synthesis of N-aryl-substituted 2-aminoquinazolin-4-ones can be further applied to the synthesis of benzimidazo[2,1-b]quinazolin-12-ones.

Amidoximes, obtained from the reaction of nitriles with hydroxylamine, underwent Tiemann rearrangement in the presence of benzenesulfonyl chlorides (TsCl or o-NsCl) to form the N-substituted cyanamides. Subsequently, acidic hydrolysis of the cyanamides afforded the corresponding N-monosubstituted ureas. The synthesis of N-monosubstituted ureas from nitriles was accomplished by three steps in one pot, which provides a direct access to versatile N-monosubstituted urea derivatives from a wide variety of nitriles.