A simple and general synthesis of 3-acyl-5-alkyl(aryl)isoxazoles by reaction of terminal alkynes with nitrates in acetic acid in the presence of SO 3 or alkaline salts is described. c Central European Science Journals. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Alkynes, isoxazoles, nitrates, sulfur trioxideIn continuation of our ongoing program to develop synthetically useful reactions of alkynes with SO 3 , we have found that SO 3 can be an effective reagent or mediator for novel transformations of the triple bond. Phenylacetylene on treatment with SO 3 in H 2 SO 4 , yields δ-sultone -4,6-diphenyl-[1,2]oxathiine-2,2-dioxide [1]. The reaction of internal alkynes with the SO 3 /DMSO/CCl 4 system leads to 1-chloro-2-methylthioethenes [2]. In contrast, the SO 3 -dioxane complex easily oxidizes triple bonds of internal alkynes or dialkynes to 1,2-diketones or bis(1,2-diketones) [3]. In an earlier report, we demonstrated, that SO 3 in the presence of sodium or ammonium nitrate effected an oxidative heterocyclization of phenylacetylene to 3-benzoyl-5-phenylisoxazole [4]. The later result is in contrast to the behavior of the NaNO 3 /I 2 (or KI) systems which only leads to iodonitration * E-mail: filimonov@tpu.ru Isoxazoles play interesting roles in medicinal and agricultural chemistry and serve as important synthetic building blocks (e.g., see [6,7] and refs therein).The two accepted general approaches for the formation of izoxaloles are: condensation of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds with hydroxylamine and 1,3-bipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to alkynes [6].A few methods are known for the synthesis of isoxazoles from terminal alkynes. The reaction of acetylene gas with fuming nitric acid gives rise to a mixture of isoxazoles bearing oxygen-containing substituents in the 3 position [8]. However, Gasparrini et al. found that terminal alkynes (R=Ph, n−Pr, n−Bu, BzOC 2 H 4 ) react with nitric acid under biphasic conditions (nitromethane/water) and in the presence of a catalytic amount of tetrabutylammonium tetrachloroaurate to give 3,5-disubstituted isoxazoles in 30-55 % yield [6]. Recently, it has been shown that the reaction of phenylacetylene with acetone or acetophenone in the presence of an equimolar amount of ammonium cerium nitrate resulted in the formation of 3-acetyl-or 3-benzoylisoxazoles with a 57-85 % analytical yield (GLC data) [7]. Another approach to this class of compounds is to react phenylacetylenes and α-nitrocarbonyl compounds [9,10] in solid phase [11]. In almost all above mentioned cases , preparative yields of the isoxazoles are very modest and the employed reagents are expensive and unsafe. Therefore, there is still a demand for new mild synthetic methods for the preparation of isoxazoles from alkynes in the presence of inexpensive and bench top reagents.Since nitrates of alkali metals are cheap, environmentally friendly, and safe to handle, we decided to explore the possibility of using the SO 3 /NO − 3 system in the reaction with alkynes for isoxazole syntheses starting from alkynes.We have shown...