The reaction of b-arylacryloyloxiranes with tosylhydrazine leads to unexpected 5-hydroxysubstituted D 2 -pyrazolines. A series of 3-styryl substituted pyrazoles and 5-amino-D 2 -pyrazolines were synthesized from the 5-hydroxy-D 2 -pyrazolines. The mechanism of this process has been proposed based on current and previous results.The reaction of hydrazine and its derivatives with a,b-unsaturated ketones and a,b-epoxy ketones is one of the preparative methods for the synthesis of pyrazolines and pyrazoles. Pyrazolines are typical products of these reactions, when a,b-unsaturated ketones are used, and 4-hydroxy pyrazolines in the case where a,b-epoxy ketones are applied. 1 Combination of the functionalities of the barylacryloyloxiranes allowed evaluation of the reactivity of the carbonyl group, oxirane ring and conjugated double bond to nucleophilic reagents such as hydrazine. Earlier, we found that the reaction of b-arylacryloyloxiranes with hydrazine gives the oxiranylpyrazoline intermediates, stable enough for isolation. However, in solution these compounds undergo further intramolecular oxidative-reductive transformation to b-hydroxyalkylpyrazoles. 2 These data indicate that hydrazine reacts preferentially with the conjugated double bond of barylacryloyloxiranes. Reaction of phenylhydrazine with b-arylacryloyloxiranes in proton solvents gives b-arylvinylpyrazoles, which shows participation of the oxirane ring in the cyclization process. 3 In this paper, the reaction of b-arylacryloyloxiranes with tosylhydrazine is reported. Pyrazoles and pyrazolines with aromatic substituents are interesting as potential bioreceptor ligands. 4 Although 4-hydroxypyrazolines are the typical products of the reaction of a,b-epoxy ketones with tosylhydrazine 5 and other hydrazines, 1 we found that the reaction of 3-aryl-1-(3-phenyloxiran-2-yl)-prop-2-en-1-ones (1a-f) with tosylhydrazine under acid catalysis leads to formation of 3-(2-arylvinyl)-5-hydroxy-5-phenyl-1-tosyl-2-pyrazolines (2a-f) with 58-83% yield (Scheme 1). Additionally, 3-(2-arylvinyl)-5-phenyl-1-tosyl-1H-pyrazoles (3a-f) were isolated with 7-21% yield by chromatography after crystallization of the major products. 6The structures of 5-hydroxy-3-styrylpyrazolines (2a-f) were determined by IR, 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR spectroscopy. 7 Thus, the hydroxyl, azomethine and vinyl group absorptions were observed in IR spectra, but there was no presence of the carbonyl band. The 1 H NMR spectra indicated the presence of the methylene diastereotopic protons at d = 3.20-3.50 ppm (J = 17.6-17.9 Hz), consistent with 5-hydroxypyrazoline structures. 8,9 The chemical shift of the double bond protons appeared in the range of d = 6.55-6.66 ppm and 6.92-7.14 ppm (J = 16.4-16.7 Hz). Compared to the initial enones, they are displayed at the higher field as an ABsystem. The tosyl group protons are shown in the 1 H NMR spectrum as a characteristic singlet at d = 2.4 ppm (for the methyl group) and AB-system of aromatic protons signals in the low field at the range of d = 7.22 and 7.68 ppm (J = 8.3 ...