Concise synthesis of functionalized quinolines has received
continuous
research attention owing to the biological importance and synthetic
potential of bicyclic N-heterocycles. However, synthetic
routes to the 2,4-unsubstituted alkyl quinoline-3-carboxylate scaffold,
which is an important motif in drug design, remain surprisingly limited,
with modular protocols that proceed from readily available materials
being even more so. We herein report an acidic I2–DMSO
system that converts readily available aspartates and anilines into
alkyl quinoline-3-carboxylate. This method can be extended to a straightforward
synthesis of 3-arylquinolines by simply replacing the aspartates with
phenylalanines. Mechanistic studies revealed that DMSO was activated
by HI via a Pummerer reaction to provide the C1 synthon, while the
amino acid catabolized to the C2 synthon through I2-mediated
Strecker degradation. A formal [3 + 2 + 1] annulation of these two
concurrently generated synthons with aniline was responsible for the
selective formation of the quinoline core. The synthetic utility of
this protocol was illustrated by the efficient synthesis of human
5-HT4 receptor ligand. Moreover, an unprecedented chemoselective synthesis
of 2-deuterated, 3-substituted quinoline, featuring this reaction,
has been established.